
THE HISTORIC 

SERIES FOR 

YOUNG PEOPLE 




Class, Izi^}!-. 
Book //^ 



Copyright ]^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSrn 



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THE HISTORIC 

SERIES FOR 
YOUNG PEOPLE 






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O 



Historic Adventures 

T^ales from American History 



By 
RUPERT S. HOLLAND 

Author of "Historic Boyhoods" "Historic Girlhoods" 
"Historic Inventions," etc. 




PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



E'/7S 

■ 3 
■H73 



Copyright, 1913, by 

George W. Jacobs & Company 

Published October, 1913 



All rights reserved 
Printed in U. S. A. 



©Oi,A354843 



To 
Robert D, Jenks 



Contents 

I. The Lost Children .... 9 

II. The Great Journey of Lewis and Clark 21 

III. The Conspiracy of Aaron Burr 



IV. How the Young Republic Fought the 
Barbary Pirates 

V. The Fate of Lovejoy's Printing-Press 

VI. How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon 

VII. How the Mormons Came to Settle Utah 

VIII. The Golden Days of 'Forty-Nine . 

IX. How the United States Made Friends 
with Japan .... 

X. The Pig that Almost Caused a War 

XI. John Brown at Harper's Ferry 

XII. An Arctic Explorer 

XIII. The Story of Alaska 

XIV. How the " Merrimac " was Sunk in San 

tiago Harbor .... 



59 

80 
113 
135 
165 
181 

203 
222 
229 
254 
264 

275 



Illustrations 

Shooting tongues of smoke from their great black 

throats Frontispiece ^ 

Sawquehanna seemed to remember the voice . Facing page \ 8 ^ 

Decatur caught the Moor's arm . . . " " 90 t^ 

The last six hundred miles were the hardest . " ** 

Nauvoo had handsome houses and public 
buildings ..... 



Wherever there was a stream explorers began 
to dig ...... 

The teams, exhausted, began to fail 

Spanish boats pulled close to them . 



(( « 



C( (( 



«( tt 



152 


>/ 


166 


I. 


J 86 


• 


200 


\y 


282 


v 



THE LOST CHILDREN 

The valleys of Pennsylvania were dotted with log 
cabins in the days of the French and Indian wars. 
Sometimes a number of the little houses stood close 
together for protection, but often they were built far 
apart. Wherever the pioneer saw good farm land 
he settled. It was a new sensation for men to be 
able to go into the country and take whatever land 
attracted them. Gentle rolling fields, with wide 
views of distant country through the notches of the 
hills, shining rivers, splendid uncut forests, and rich 
pasturage were to be found not far from the grow- 
ing village of Philadelphia, and were free to any who 
wished to take them. Such a land would have been 
a paradise, but for one shadow that hung over it. 
In the background always lurked the Indians, who 
might at any time, without rhyme or reason, steal 
down upon the lonely hamlet or cabin, and lay it 
waste. The pioneer looked across the broad acres 
of central Pennsylvania and found them beautiful. 
Only when he had built his home and planted his 
fields did he fully realize the constant peril that 
lurked in the wooded mountains. 

English, French, and Spanish came to the new 



lo HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

world, and the English proved themselves the best 
colonists. They settled the central part of the At- 
lantic Coast, but among them and mixed with them 
were people of other lands. The Dutch took a liking 
for the Island of Manhattan and the Hudson River, 
the Swedes for Delaware, and into the colony of 
William Penn came pilgrims from what was called 
the Palatinate, Germans, a strong race drawn partly 
by desire for religious freedom, partly by the reports 
of the great free lands across the ocean. They 
brought with them the tongue, the customs, and the 
names of the German Fatherland, and many a valley 
of eastern Pennsylvania heard only the German lan- 
guage spoken. 

The Indian tribes known as the Six Nations 
roamed through the country watered by the Susque- 
hanna. They hunted through all the land south of 
the Great Lakes. Sometimes they fought with the 
Delawares, sometimes with the Catawbas, and again 
they would smoke the calumet or pipe of peace with 
their neighbors, and give up the war-path for months 
at a time. But the settlers could never be sure of 
their intentions. Wily French agents might sow 
seeds of discord in the Indians' minds, and then the 
chiefs who had lately exchanged gifts with the set- 
tlers might suddenly steal upon some quiet village 
and leave the place in ruins. This constant peril 
was the price men had to pay in return for the right 
to take whatever land they liked. 

In a little valley of eastern Pennsylvania a Ger- 



THE LOST CHILDREN ii 

man settler named John Hartman had built a cabin 
in 1754. He had come to this place with his wife 
and four children because here he might earn a good 
living from the land. He was a hard worker, and 
his farm was prospering. He had horses and cattle, 
and his wife spun and wove the clothing for the 
family. The four children, George, Barbara, Regina, 
and Christian, looked upon the valley as their home, 
forgetting the German village over the sea. Not far 
away lived neighbors, and sometimes the children 
went to play with other boys and girls, and some- 
times their friends spent a holiday on John Hart- 
man's farm. 

The family, like all farmers' families, rose early. 
Before they began the day's work the father would 
read to them from his big Bible, which he had 
brought from his native land as his most valuable 
possession. On a bright morning in the autumn of 
1754 he gathered his family in the living-room of his 
cabin and read them a Bible lesson. The doors and 
windows stood open, and the sun flooded the little 
house, built of rough boards, and scrupulously clean. 
The farmer's dog, Wasser, lay curled up asleep 
just outside the front door, and a pair of horses, al- 
ready harnessed, stood waiting to be driven to the 
field. Birds singing in the trees called to the chil- 
dren to hurry out-of-doors. They tried to listen to 
their father's voice as he read, and to pay atten- 
tion. As they all knelt he prayed for their safety. 
Then they had breakfast, and the father and mother 



12 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

made plans for the day. Mrs. Hartman was to 
take the younger boy, Christian, to the flour-mill 
several miles away, and if they had time was to call 
at the cabin of a sick friend. The father and George 
went to the field to finish their sowing before the 
autumn rains should come, and the two little girls 
were told to look after the house till their mother 
should return. Little Christian sat upon an old 
horse, held on by his mother, and waved his hand 
to his father and George as he rode by the field on 
his way to the mill. 

The girls, like their mother, were good house- 
keepers. They set the table for dinner, and at noon 
Barbara blew the big tin horn to call her father and 
brother. As they were eating dinner the dog 
Wasser came running into the house growling, and 
acting as if he were very much frightened. Mr. 
Hartman spoke to him, and called him to his side. 
But the dog stood in the doorway, and then suddenly 
leaped forward and sprang upon an Indian who came 
around the wall. 

The peril that lurked in the woods had come. 
John Hartman jumped to the door, but two rifle 
bullets struck him down. George sprang up, only 
to fall beside his father. An Indian killed the dog 
with his tomahawk. Into the peaceful cabin 
swarmed fifteen yelling savages. Barbara ran up a 
ladder into the loft, and Regina fell on her knees, 
murmuring " Herr Jesus I Herr Jesus ! " The In- 
dians hesitated, then one of them seized her, and 



THE LOST CHILDREN i^ 

made a motion with his knife across her lips to bid 
her be silent. Another went after Barbara and 
brought her down from the loft, and then the Indians 
ordered the two girls to put on the table all the food 
there was in the cabin. 

When the food was gone the savages plundered 
the house, making bundles of what they wanted and 
slinging them over their shoulders. They took the 
two litde girls into the field. There another girl 
stood tied to the fence. When she saw Barbara and 
Regina she began to cry, and called in German for 
her mother. While the three frightened girls stood 
close together the Indians set fire to the cabin. 
Very soon the log house that had cost John Hart- 
man so much labor was burned to the ground. 
When their work of destruction was completed the 
Indians took the three children into the woods. 

At sunset Mrs. Hartman returned from the flour- 
mill with little Christian riding his horse, but when 
she came up the road it seemed as if her house had 
disappeared. Yet the pine trees, the fences, the 
plowed fields, and the orchard were still there. The 
little boy cried, "Where is our house, mother?" and 
the poor woman could not understand. 

The story of what had occurred was only too 
plain to her a few minutes later. What had hap- 
pened to many other pioneers had happened to her 
family. Clutching Christian in her arms she ran to 
the house of her nearest neighbor. There she heard 
that the Indians had left the same track of blood 



14 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

through other parts of the valley ; that farmers had 
been slain ; their crops burned ; and their children 
carried off into the wilderness. The terrified settlers 
banded together for protection. For weeks new 
stories came of the Indians' massacres. If ever 
there were heartless savages these were ! They did 
not carry all the children to their wigwams ; some 
were killed on the way ; and among them was little 
Barbara Hartman. Word came from time to time 
of some of the stolen children, but there was no 
word of Regina or Susan Smith, the daughter of the 
neighboring farmer. 

Far in the forests of western New York was the 
camp of a great Indian tribe. The wigwams stood 
on the banks of a beautiful mountain stream, broken 
by great rocks that sent the water leaping in cas- 
cades and falls. In one of the wigwams lived the 
mother of a famous warrior of the tribe, and with her 
were two girls whom she treated as her daughters. 
The name of the old squaw was She-lack-la, which 
meant " the Dark and Rainy Cloud," a name given 
her because at times she grew very angry and ill- 
treated every one around her. Fortunately there 
were two girls in her wigwam, and when the old 
squaw was in a bad temper they had each other for 
protection. The older girl had been given the name 
of Saw-que-han-na, or " the White Lily," and the 
other was known as Kno-los-ka, " the Short-legged 
Bear." Like all the Indian girls they had to work 



THE LOST CHILDREN 15 

hard, grinding corn, cooking and keeping house for 
the boys and men who were brought up to hunt and 
fight. Sawquehanna was tall and strong, spoke the 
language of the tribe, and looked very much like her 
Indian girl friends. 

In the meantime many batdes had been fought 
through the country of the pioneers, and the English 
colonists were beating the French and Indians, and 
driving the Frenchmen farther and farther north. 
In 1765 the long war between the two nations 
ended. Under a treaty of peace the English Colonel 
Boquet demanded that all the white children who 
had been captured by the Indian tribes should be 
surrendered to the English officers. So one day 
white soldiers came into the woods of western New 
York and found the wigwams there. The children 
were called out, and the soldiers took the two girls 
from the old squaw Shelackla. Then they went on 
to the other tribes, and from each they took all the 
white children. They carried them to Fort Duquesne. 
The Fort was in western Pennsylvania, and as soon 
as it was known that the lost white children were 
there, fathers and mothers all over the country hur- 
ried to find their boys and girls. Many of the chil- 
dren had been away so long that they hardly remem- 
bered their parents, but most of the parents knew 
their children, and found them again within the 
walls of the fortress. 

Some of the children, however, were not claimed. 
Sawquehanna and her friend Knoloska and nearly 



i6 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

fifty more found no one looking for them and 
wondered what would happen to them. After they 
had waited at Fort Duquesne eight days, Colonel 
Boquet started to march with his band of children to 
the town of Carlisle, in hopes that they might find 
friends farther east, or at least kind-hearted people 
who would give the children homes. He sent news 
of their march all through the country, and from day 
to day as they traveled through the mountains by 
way of Fort Ligonier, Raystown, and Louden, eager 
people arrived to search among the band of children 
for lost sons and daughters. When the children 
came to Carlisle the town was filled with settlers 
from the East. 

The children stood in the market-place, and the 
men and women pressed about them, trying to 
recognize little ones who had been carried away by 
Indians years before. Some people who lived in 
the Blue Mountains were in the throng, and they 
recognized the dark-haired Indian girl Knoloska as 
Susan, the daughter of Mr. Smith, the farmer who had 
lived near the Hartmans. Knoloska and Sawque- 
hanna had not been separated for a long time. 
They had kept together ever since the white soldiers 
had freed them from the old squaw's wigwam. 
Sawquehanna could not bear to think of having her 
comrade leave her, and Susan clung to her adopted 
sister's arm and kissed her again and again. The 
white people were much kinder than the old squaw 
had been, and instead of beating the girls when they 



THE LOST CHILDREN 17 

cried, and frightening them with threats, the officers 
told Sawquehanna that she would probably find 
some friends soon, and if she did not, that perhaps 
Susan's family would let her live in their home^ 
But as nobody seemed to recognize her Sawque- 
hanna felt more lonely than she had ever felt be- 
fore. 

Meanwhile Mrs. Hartman was living in the valley 
with her son Christian, who had grown to be a 
strong boy of fourteen. Neighbors told her that 
the lost children were being brought across the 
mountains to Carlisle, but there seemed little chance 
that her own Regina might be one of them. She 
decided, however, that she must go to the town and 
see. Travel was difficult in those days, but the 
brave woman set out over the mountains and across 
the rivers to Carlisle, and at last reached the town 
market-place. She looked anxiously among the 
girls, remembering her little daughter as she had 
been on that autumn day eleven years before ; but 
none of the girls had the blue eyes, light yellow 
hair and red cheeks of Regina. Mrs. Hartman 
shook her head, and decided that her daughter was 
not among these children. 

As she turned away, disconsolate. Colonel Boquet 
said to her, " Can't you find your daughter ? " 

" No," said the disappointed mother, " my daugh- 
ter is not among those children." 

•' Are you sure ? " asked the colonel. " Are there 
no marks by which you might know her ? " 



i8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

" None, sir," she answered, shaking her head. 

Colonel Boquet considered the matter for a few 
minutes. " Did you ever sing to her ? " he asked 
presently. " Was there no old hymn that she was 
fond of?" 

The mother looked up quickly. " Yes, there 
was ! " she answered. " I have often sung her to 
sleep in my arms with an old German hymn we all 
loved so well." 

" Then," said the colonel, " you and I will walk 
along the line of girls and you shall sing that hymn. 
It may be that your daughter has changed so much 
that you wouldn't know her, but she may remember 
the tune." 

Mrs. Hartman looked very doubtful. " There is 
little use in it, sir," she said, " for certainly I should 
have known her if she were here ; and if I try your 
plan all these soldiers will laugh at me for a foolish 
old German woman." 

The colonel, however, begged her at least to try 
his plan, and she finally consented. They walked 
back to the place where the children were standing, 
and Mrs. Hartman began to sing in a trembling 
voice the first words of the old hymn : 



" Alone, and yet not all alone, am I 
In this lone wilderness." 



As she went on singing every one stopped talking 
and turned to look at her. The woman's hands 




Sawquehanna Seemed to Remember the Voice 



THE LOST CHILDREN 19 

were clasped as if in prayer, and her eyes were 
closed. The sun shone full upon her white hair and 
upturned face. There was something very beautiful 
in the picture she made, and there was silence in the 
market-place as her gentle voice went on through 
the words of the hymn. 

The mother had begun the second verse when 
one of the children gave a cry. It was Sawque- 
hanna, who seemed suddenly to have remembered 
the voice and words. She rushed forward, and 
flung her arms about the mother's neck, crying, 
*' Mother, mother ! " Then, with her arms tight 
about her, the tall girl joined in singing the words 
that had lulled her to sleep in their cabin home. 



" Alone, and yet not all alone, am I 

In this lone wilderness, 
I feel my Saviour ahvays nigh ; 

He comes the weary hours to bless. 
I am with Him, and He with me, 

E'en here alone I cannot be." 



The people in the market-place moved on about 
their own affairs, and the mother and daughter were 
left together. Now Mrs. Hartman recognized the 
blue eyes of Regina, and knew her daughter in 
spite of her height and dark skin, Regina began 
to remember the days of her childhood, and the 
years she had spent among the Indians were forgot- 
ten. She was a white girl again, and happier now 
than she had ever thought to be. 



20 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Next day Knoloska, now Susan Smith, and Saw- 
quehanna, or Regina Hartman, went back to their 
homes in the valley. Many a settler there had 
found his son or daughter in the crowd of lost 
children at Carlisle. 



II 

THE GREAT JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND 
CLARK 

French is still spoken in Quebec and New Or- 
leans, reminders that the land of the lilies had much 
to do with the settlement of North America. Many 
of the greatest explorers of the continent were French- 
men. Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence 
River in 1534, ^.nd Champlain in 1603 founded New 
France, and from his small fortress at Quebec 
planned an empire that should reach to Florida. In 
1666 Robert Cavalier, the Sieur de La Salle, came to 
Canada, and set out from his seigneurie near the 
rapids of Montreal to find the long-sought road to 
China. Instead of doing that he discovered the 
Ohio River, first of white men he voyaged across the 
Great Lakes and sailed down the Mississippi to its 
mouth. Great explorer, he mapped the country 
from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, from 
the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean, and built fron- 
tier-posts in the wilderness. He traveled thousands 
of miles, and in 1682 he raised the lilies of France 
near the mouth of the Mississippi and named the 
whole territory he had covered Louisiana^ in honor 
of King Louis XIV of France. 



22 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

The first colony on the Gulf was established seven- 
teen years later at Biloxi by a Canadian seigneur 
named Iberville, Soon afterward this seigneur^s 
brother, Bienville, founded New Orleans and attracted 
many French pioneers there. The French proved to 
be better explorers than farmers or settlers. In the 
south they hunted the sources of the Arkansas and 
Red Rivers, and discovered the little-known Pawnee 
and Comanche Indians. In the north they pressed 
westward and came in sight of the Rocky Mountains. 
At that time it seemed as if France was to own at 
least two-thirds of the continent. The English gen- 
eral, Braddock, was defeated at Fort Duquesne in 
1755, and the French commanded the Ohio as well 
as the Mississippi ; but four years later the English 
general, Wolfe, won the victory of the Plains of 
Abraham near Quebec ; and France's chance was 
over. Men in Paris who knew little concerning the 
new world did not scruple to give away their coun- 
try's title to vast lands. The French ceded Canada 
and all of La Salle's old province of Louisiana east 
of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to England. 
Soon afterward France, to outwit England, gave 
Spain New Orleans and her claim to the half of the 
Mississippi Valley west of the river to which the 
name Louisiana now came to be restricted. 

The French, however, were great adventurers by 
nature, and Napoleon, changing the map of Europe, 
could not keep his fingers from North America. He 
planned to win back the New France that had been 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 23 

given away. Spain was weak, and Napoleon traded 
a small province in Italy for the great tract of Louisi- 
ana. He meant to colonize and fortify this splendid 
empire, but before it could be done enemies gathered 
against his eagles at home, and to save his European 
throne he had to forsake his western colony. 

When Thomas Jefferson became President in 1801, 
he found the people of the South and West disturbed 
at France's repossessing herself of so much territory. 
He sent Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe to 
Paris to try to buy New Orleans and the country 
known as the Floridas for $2,000,000. Instead Na- 
poleon offered to sell not only New Orleans, but the 
whole of Louisiana Territory extending as far west 
as the Rocky Mountains for $15,000,000. Napoleon 
insisted on the sale, and the envoys agreed. Jeffer- 
son and the people in the eastern United States were 
dismayed at the price paid for what they considered 
almost worthless land, but the West was delighted, 
owning the mouth of the great Mississippi and with 
the country beyond it free to them to explore. In 
time this purchase of Louisiana, or the territory 
stretching to the Rocky Mountains, forming the 
larger part of what are now thirteen of the states of 
the Union, was to be considered one of the greatest 
pieces of good fortune in the country's history. 

Scarcely anything was known of Louisiana, except 
the stories told by a few hunters. Jefferson decided 
that the region must be explored, and asked his 
young secretary, Meriwether Lewis, who had shown 



24 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

great interest in the new country, to make a path 
through the wilderness. Lewis chose his friend 
William Clark to accompany him, and picked thirty- 
two experienced men for their party. May 14, 1804, 
the expedition set out in a barge with sails and two 
smaller boats from a point on the Missouri River 
near St. Louis. 

The nearer part of this country had already been 
well explored by hunters and trappers, and especially 
by that race of adventurous Frenchmen who were 
rovers by nature. These men could not endure the 
confining life of towns, and were continually pushing 
into the wilderness, driving their light canoes over 
the waters of the great rivers, and often sharing the 
tents of friendly Indians they met. Many had become 
almost more Indian than white man, — had married 
Indian wives and lived the wandering life of the na- 
tive. Such a man Captain Lewis found at the start 
of his journey, and took with him to act as inter- 
preter among the Sioux and tribes who spoke a sim- 
ilar language. 

The party traveled rapidly at the outset of their 
journey, meeting small bands of Indians, and passing 
one or two widely-separated frontier settlements. 
They had to pass many difficult rapids in the river, 
but as they were for the most part expert boatmen 
they met with no mishaps. The last white town on 
the Missouri was a little hamlet called La Charrette, 
consisting of seven houses, with as many families 
located there to hunt and trade for skins and furs. 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 2$ 

As they went up the river they frequently met canoes 
loaded with furs coming down. Day by day they took 
careful observations, and made maps of the country 
through which they were traveling, and when they 
met Indians tried to learn the history and customs of 
the tribe. Captain Lewis wrote down many of their 
curious traditions. The Osage tribe had given their 
name to a river that flowed into the Missouri a little 
more than a hundred miles from its mouth. There 
were three tribes of this nation : the Great Osages, 
numbering about five hundred warriors ; the Little 
Osages, who lived some six miles distant from the 
others, and numbered half as many men ; and the 
Arkansas band, six hundred strong, who had left the 
others some time before, and settled on the Vermil- 
lion River. The Osages lived in villages and were 
good farmers, usually peaceful, although naturally 
strong and tireless. Captain Lewis found a curious 
tradition as to the origin of their tribe. The story 
was that the founder of the nation was a snail, who 
lived quietly on the banks of the Osage until a high 
flood swept him down to the Missouri, and left him 
exposed on the shore. The heat of the sun at length 
ripened him into a man, but with the change in his na- 
ture he did not forget his native haunts on the Osage, 
but immediately bent his way in that direction. He 
was, however, soon overtaken by hunger and fatigue, 
when happily the Great Spirit appeared, and giving 
him a bow and arrow showed him how to kill and 
cook deer, and cover himself with the skins. He 



26 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

then pushed on to his home, but as he neared it 
he was met by a beaver, who inquired haughtily who 
he was, and by what authority he came to disturb 
his possession. The Osage answered that the river 
was his own, for he had once lived on its borders. 
As they stood disputing, the daughter of the beaver 
came, and having by her entreaties made peace be- 
tween her father and the young stranger, it was pro- 
posed that the Osage should marry the young 
beaver, and share the banks of the river with her 
family. The Osage readily consented, and from this 
happy marriage there came the village and the na- 
tion of the Wasbasha, or Osages, who kept a rever- 
ence for their ancestors, never hunting the beaver, 
because in killing that animal they would kill a 
brother of the Osage. The explorers found, how- 
ever, that since the value of beaver skins had risen 
in trade with the white men, these Indians were 
not so particular in their reverence for their rela- 
tives. 

The mouth of the Platte River was reached on 
July 2ist, and the next day Lewis held a council 
with the Ottoes and Missouri Indians, and named the 
site Council Bluffs. At each of these meetings be- 
tween Lewis and the Indians the white man would 
explain that this territory was now part of the United 
States, would urge the tribes to trade with their new 
neighbors, and then present them with gifts of 
medals, necklaces, rings, tobacco, ornaments of all 
sorts, and often powder and arms. 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 27 

The Indians were friendly and each day taught 
the white men something new. Both Captain Lewis 
and Lieutenant Clark had seen much of the red 
men on the frontier, but now they were in a land 
where they found them in their own homes. They 
grew accustomed to the round tepees decorated 
with bright-colored skins, the necklaces made of 
claws of grizzly bears, the head-dresses of eagle 
feathers, the tambourines, or small drums that fur- 
nished most of their music, the whip-rattles made of 
the hoofs of goats and deer, the white-dressed buflalo 
robes painted with pictures that told the history of 
the tribe, the moccasins and tobacco pouches em- 
broidered with many colored beads. Each tribe dif- 
fered in some way from its neighbors. For the first 
time the explorers found among the Rickarees eight- 
sided earth-covered lodges, and basket-shaped boats 
made of interwoven boughs covered with buffalo 
skins. 

Game was plentiful as they went farther up the 
Missouri River. At first no buffaloes were found, 
but bands of elk were seen, and large herds of goats 
crossing from their summer grazing grounds in the 
hilly region west of the Missouri to their winter 
quarters. Besides these were antelopes, beavers, 
bears, badgers, deer, and porcupines, and the river 
banks supplied them with plover, grouse, geese, 
turkeys, ducks, and pelicans. There were plenty of 
wild fruits to be had, and they lived well during the 
whole of the summer. They traveled rapidly until 



28 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the approach of cold weather decided them to estab- 
lish winter quarters on October 27th. 

They pitched their camp, which they called Fort 
Mandan, on the eastern shore of the Missouri, near 
the present city of Bismarck. They built some 
wooden huts, which formed two sides of a triangle, 
and a row of pickets on the third side, to provide 
them with a stockade in case of attack. They found 
a trader of the Hudson's Bay Company near by, and 
during the winter a dozen other traders visited them. 
Although they appeared to be friendly, Captain 
Lewis was convinced that the traders had no desire 
to see this United States expedition push into the 
country, and would in fact do all they could to 
prevent its advance. The Indians in the neighbor- 
hood belonged to the tribes of the Mandans, 
Rickarees, and Minnetarees. The first two of these 
tribes went to war early in the winter, but peace was 
made through the efforts of Captain Lewis. After 
that all the Indians visited the encampment, bringing 
stores of corn and presents of different sorts, in 
exchange for which they obtained beads, rings, and 
cloth from the white men. Here Captain Lewis 
learned a curious legend of the Mandan tribe. 
They believed that all their nation originally lived 
in one large village underground near a subter- 
ranean lake, and that a grape-vine stretched its roots 
down to their home and gave them a view of day- 
light. Some of the more adventurous of the tribe 
climbed up the vine, and were delighted with the 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 29 

sight of the earth, which they found covered with 
buffaloes and rich with all kinds of fruits. They 
gathered some grapes and returned with them to 
their countrymen, and told them of the charms of 
the land they had seen. The others were very much 
pleased with the story and with the grapes, and 
men, women and children started to climb up the 
vine. But when only half of them had reached the 
top a heavy woman broke the vine by her weight, 
and so closed the road to the rest of the nation. 
Each member of this tribe was accustomed to select a 
particular object for his devotion, and call it his 
*• medicine." To this they would offer sacrifices of 
every kind. One of the Indians said to Captain 
Lewis, *• I was lately the owner of seventeen horses ; 
but I have offered them all up to my * medicine,' and 
am now poor." He had actually loosed all his 
seventeen horses on the plains, thinking that in that 
way he was doing honor to his god. 

Almost every day hunting parties left the camp 
and brought back buffaloes. The weather grew 
very cold in December, and several times the ther- 
mometer fell to forty degrees below zero. As 
spring advanced, however, the weather became very 
mild, and as early as April 7, 1805, they were able 
to leave their camp at Fort Manden and start on 
again. The upper Missouri they found was too 
shallow for the large barge they had used the 
previous summer, so this was now sent back down the 
river in charge of a party of ten men who carried let- 



30 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

ters and specimens, while the others embarked in six 
canoes and two large open boats that they had built 
during the winter. So far the country through 
which they had passed had been explored by a few 
Hudson's Bay trappers, but as they now turned 
westward they came into a region entirely unknown, 
which they soon found was almost uninhabited. 

The party had by this time three interpreters, one 
a Canadian half-breed named Drewyer, who had 
inherited from his mother the Indian's skill in wood- 
craft, and who also knew the language of the white 
explorers. The other two were a man named 
Chaboneau and his wife, a young squaw called 
Sacajawea, the " Bird-woman," who had originally 
belonged to the Snake tribe, but who had been 
captured in her childhood by Blackfeet Indians. 
This Indian girl had married Chaboneau, a French 
wanderer, who like many others of his kind had 
sunk into an almost savage state. As the squaw 
had not forgotten the language of her native people 
the two white leaders thought she would prove a 
valuable help to them in the wild country westward, 
and persuaded her and her husband to go on with 
them. 

As the weather was fine the party traveled rap- 
idly, and by April 26th reached the mouth of the 
Yellowstone. They were now very far north, near 
the northwest corner of what is the state of North 
Dakota. Game was still plentiful but the banks of 
the river were covered with a coating of alkali salts, 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 31 

which made the water of the streams bitter and 
unpleasant for drinking. Occasionally they came 
upon a deserted Indian camp, but in this northern 
territory they found few roving- tribes. When there 
was a favorable wind they sailed along the Missouri, 
but most of the time they had to use their oars. 
Early in May they drew up their birch canoes for 
the night at the mouth of a stream where they 
found a large number of porcupines feeding on 
young willow trees. Captain Lewis christened the 
stream Porcupine River. Here there were quantities 
of game, and elk and buffalo in abundance, so that 
it was an easy matter to provide food for all the party. 

Now they were continually coming upon new 
rivers, many of them broad, with swift-flowing cur- 
rents, and all of them appealing to the love of 
exploration. The Missouri was their highroad, 
however, and so they simply stopped to name the 
different streams they came to. One they passed 
had a peculiar white color, and Captain Lewis called 
it the Milk River. The country along this stream 
was bare for some distance, with gradually rising 
hills beyond. 

The game here was very plentiful and the buffaloes 
were so tame that the men were obliged to drive 
them away with sticks and stones. The only danger- 
ous animal was the grizzly bear, a beast that never 
seemed to know when he had had enough of a fight. 
One evening the men in the canoes saw a large 
grizzly lying some three hundred paces from the 



32 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

shore. Six of them landed and hid behind a small 
hillock within forty paces of the bear ; four of the 
hunters fired, and each lodged a ball in the bear's 
body. The animal sprang up and roared furiously 
at them. As he came near them the two hunters 
who had not yet fired gave him two more wounds, 
one of which broke a shoulder, but before they had 
time to reload their guns, the bear was so near them 
that they had to run for the river. He almost over- 
took them ; two jumped into the canoes ; the other 
four separated, and hiding in the willows fired as 
fast as they could reload their guns. Again and 
agam they shot him, but each time the shots only 
seemed to attract his attention toward the hunters, 
until finally he chased two of them so closely that 
they threw away their guns, and jumped down a 
steep bank into the river. The bear sprang after 
them, and was almost on top of the rear man when 
one of the others on shore shot him in the head, and 
finally killed him. They dragged him to shore, 
and found that eight balls had gone through him in 
different directions. The hunters took the bear's 
skin back to camp, and there they learned that an- 
other adventure had occurred. One of the other 
canoes, which contained all the provisions, instru- 
ments, and numerous other important articles, had 
been under sail when it was struck on the side by a 
sudden squall of wind. The man at the helm, who 
was one of the worst navigators of the party, made 
the mistake of luffing the boat into the wind. The 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 33 

wind was so high that it forced the brace of the 
square-sail out of the hand of the man who was hold- 
ing it, and instantly upset the canoe. The boat 
would have turned upside down but for the resist- 
ance of the canvas awning. The other boats hastened 
to the rescue, righted the canoe, and by baling her 
out kept her from sinking. They rowed the canoe 
to shore and the cargo was saved. Had it been lost 
the expedition would have been deprived of most of 
the things that were necessary for its success, at a 
distance of between two and three thousand miles 
from any place where they could get supplies. 

On May 20th they reached the yellowish waters of 
the Musselshell River. A short distance beyond this 
Captain Lewis caught his first view of the Rocky 
Mountains, one of the goals toward which they were 
tending. Along the Musselshell the country was 
covered with wild roses and small honeysuckle, but 
soon after they came into a region that was very bare 
and dry, where both game and timber were scarce, 
the mosquitoes annoying, the noonday sun uncom- 
fortably hot, and the nights very coldo The Mis- 
souri River, along which they were still traveling, was 
now heading to the southwest They were near the 
border of the present state of Idaho when they passed 
several old Indian camps, most of which seemed to 
have been deserted for five or six weeks. From this 
fact they judged that they were following a band of 
about one hundred lodges, who were traveling up the 
same river. They knew that the Minnetarees of the 



34 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Missouri often traveled as far west as the Yellow- 
stone, and presumed that the Indians ahead of them 
belonged to that tribe. There were other evidences 
of the Indians. At the foot of a cliff they found the 
bodies of a great many slaughtered buffaloes, which 
had been hunted after the fashion of the Blackfeet. 
Their way of hunting was to select one of the most 
active braves, and disguise him by tying a buffalo 
skin around his body, fastening the skin of the head, 
with ears and horns, over the head of the brave. 
Thus disguised the Indian would take a position be- 
tween a herd of buffalo and the precipice overlook- 
ing a river. The other hunters would steal back of 
the herd, and at a given signal chase them. The 
buffaloes would run in the direction of the disguised 
brave, who would lead them on at full speed toward 
the river. As he reached the edge he would quickly 
hide himself in some crevice or ravine of the cliff, 
which he had chosen beforehand, and the herd would 
be left on the brink. The buffaloes in front could 
not stop being driven on by those behind, who in 
their turn would be closely pursued by the hunters. 
The whole herd, therefore, would usually rush over 
the cliff, and the hunters could take their pick of 
hides and meat in the river below. This method of 
hunting was very extravagant, but at that time the 
Indians had no thought of preserving the buffaloes. 
One of the rivers Lewis passed in this region he 
named the Slaughter River, on account of this way 
of hunting. 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 35 

When the Missouri turned southward the explorers 
came to many steep rapids, around which the canoes 
had to be carried, which made travehng slow. Often 
the banks were so steep and the mud so thick that 
the men were obliged to take off their moccasins, and 
much of the time they were up to their arms in the 
cold water of the river. But there was a great deal 
to charm the eye in the opening spring, even in that 
bare country. Lewis found places near the river 
filled with choke-cherries, yellow currants, wild 
roses, and prickly pears in full bloom. In the dis- 
tance the mountains, rising in long greenish-blue 
chains, the tops covered with snow, invited the 
travelers to find what lay on the other side of their 
ridges. 

On June 3d they reached a place where the river 
divided into two wide streams, and it became very 
important to decide which of the two was the one 
that the Indians called the Ahmateahza, or Missouri, 
which they had said approached very near to the 
Columbia River. Lewis knew that the success of 
his expedition depended largely upon choosing th6 
right stream, because if, after they had ascended the 
Rocky Mountains beyond, they should find that the 
river they had taken did not bring them near the 
Columbia, they would have to return, and thereby 
would lose a large part of the summer, which was 
the only season when they could travel. For this 
reason he decided to send out two exploring parties. 
He himself made a two days' march up the north 



36 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

branch, and deciding that this was not the Missouri, 
he named it Maria's River. As they came back 
they had to walk along high cliffs, and at one steep 
point Captain Lewis slipped, and, if he had not been 
able to catch himself with his mountain stick, would 
have been thrown into the river. He had just 
reached a point of safety when he heard a man be- 
hind him call out, " Good God, captain, what shall I 
do ? " Turning instantly he found that his compan- 
ion had lost his footing on the narrow pass, and had 
slipped down to the very edge of the precipice, 
where he lay with his right arm and leg over the 
cliff, while with the other arm and leg he was trying 
to keep from slipping over. Lewis saw the danger, 
but calmly told the other to take his knife from his 
belt with his right hand, and dig a hole in the side 
of the bluff in which to stick his foot. With great 
presence of mind the man did this, and getting a 
foothold, raised himself on his knees. Lewis then 
told him to take off his moccasins, and crawl forward 
on his hands and knees, his knife in one hand and 
his rifle in the other. In this manner the man re- 
gained a secure place on the cliff. 

Captain Lewis considered that this method of 
traveling was too dangerous, and he ordered the rest 
of the party to wade the river at the foot of the bluff, 
where the water was only breast-high. This ad- 
venture taught them the danger of crossing the slip- 
pery heights above the stream, but as the plains 
were broken by ravines almost as difficult to pass, 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 37 

they kept on down the river, sometimes wading in 
the mud of the low grounds, sometimes in the water, 
but when that became too deep, cutting footholds in 
the river bank with their knives. On that particular 
day they traveled through rain, mud, and water for 
eighteen miles, and at night camped in a deserted 
Indian lodge built of sticks. Here they cooked part 
of the six deer they had killed in the day's traveling, 
and slept on willow boughs they piled inside the 
lodge. 

Many of the party thought that the north fork was 
the Missouri River, but Lewis and Clark were both 
convinced that the south fork was the real Missouri. 
They therefore hid their heaviest boat and all the 
supplies they could spare, and prepared to push on 
with as little burden as possible. A few days later 
Lewis was proved to be right in his judgment of 
the south fork, for on June 13th he came to the 
Great Falls of the Missouri. The grandeur of the 
falls made a tremendous impression on them all. 
The river, three hundred yards wide, was shut in by 
steep cliflfs, and for ninety yards from the left cliff 
the water fell in a smooth sheet over a precipice 
of eighty feet. The rest of the river shot forward 
with greater force, and, being broken by projecting 
rocks, sent clouds of foam into the air. As the 
water struck the basin below the falls it beat furiously 
against the ledge of rocks that extended across the 
river, and Lewis found that for three miles below the 
stream was one line of rapids and cascades, over- 



38 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

hung by bluffs. Five miles above the first falls the 
whole river was blocked by one straight shelf of 
rock, over which the water ran in an even sheet, a 
majestic sight. 

This part of the Missouri, however, offered great 
difficulties to their travel. The men had now jour- 
neyed constantly for several months, and were in a 
region of steep falls and rapids. It was clear that 
they could not carry the boats on their shoulders for 
long distances. Fortunately they found a small 
creek at the foot of the falls, and by this they were 
able to reach the highlands. From there Lieutenant 
Clark and a few men surveyed the trail they were to 
follow, while others hunted and prepared stores of 
dried meat, and the carpenter built a carriage to 
transport the boats. They found a large cottonwood 
tree, about twenty-two inches in diameter, which 
provided them with the carriage wheels. They de- 
cided to leave one of their boats behind, and use its 
mast for two axle-trees. 

Meantime Clark studied the river and found that 
a series of rapids made a perilous descent, and that 
a portage of thirteen miles would be necessary. The 
country was difficult for traveling, being covered 
with patches of prickly pears, the needles of which 
cut through the moccasins of the men who dragged 
the boat's carriage. To add to the difficulty, when 
they were about five miles from their goal the axle- 
trees broke, and then the tongues of green cotton- 
wood gave way. They had to stop and search for 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 39 

a substitute, and finally found willow trees, which 
provided them with enough wood to patch up the 
boat-carriage. Half a mile from their new camping 
place the carriage broke again, and this time they 
found it easier to carry boat and baggage than to 
build a new conveyance. Captain Lewis described 
the state of his party at this portage. " The men," 
he wrote, " are loaded as heavily as their strength 
will permit ; the crossing is really painful ; some are 
limping with the soreness of their feet, others are 
scarcely able to stand for more than a few minutes 
from the heat and fatigue ; they are all obliged to 
halt and rest frequently, and at almost every stop- 
ping place they fall, and many of them are asleep in 
an instant." 

As they had to go back to the other side of the 
rapids for the stores they had left, they were obliged 
to repair the carriage and cross the portage again 
and again. After ten days' work all their stores 
were above the falls. 

While they were busy making this portage they 
had several narrow escapes from attacks by grizzly 
bears. The bears were so bold that they would walk 
into the camp at night, attracted by buffalo meat, 
and the sleeping men were in danger from their 
claws. A tremendous storm added to their discom- 
fort, and the hailstones were driven so furiously by 
the high wind that they wounded some of the men. 
Before the storm Lieutenant Clark, with his colored 
servant York, the half-breed Chaboneau, and his 



40 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Indian wife and young child, had taken the road 
above the falls on their way to camp when they 
noticed a very dark cloud coming up rapidly in the 
west. Clark hunted about for shelter, and at length 
found a ravine protected by shelving rocks under 
which they could take refuge. Here they were safe 
from the rain, and they laid down their guns, com- 
pass, and the other articles they had with them. 
Rain and hail beat upon their shelter, and the rain 
began to fall in such solid sheets that it washed down 
rocks and mud from higher up the ravine. Then a 
landslide started, but just before the heaviest part of 
it struck them Lieutenant Clark seized his gun in 
one hand, and pushed the Indian woman, her child 
in her arms, up the bank. Her husband also caught 
at her and pulled her along, but he was so much 
frightened at the noise and danger that but for 
Clark's steadiness he, with his wife and child, would 
probably have been lost. As it was, Clark could 
hardly climb as fast as the water rose. Had they 
waited a minute longer they would have been swept 
into the Missouri just above the Great Falls. They 
reached the top in safety, and there found York, 
who had left them just before the storm to hunt some 
buffalo. They pushed on to camp where the rest of 
the party had already taken shelter, and had aban- 
doned all work for that day. 

While the men were building a new boat of skins, 
Captain Lewis spent much time studying the animals, 
trees, and plants of the region, making records of them 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 41 

to take home. Ever since their arrival at the falls 
they had heard a strange noise coming from the 
mountains a little to the north of west. " It is heard 
at different periods of the day and night," Lewis 
wrote, " sometimes when the air is perfectly still and 
without a cloud, and consists of one stroke only, or 
of five or six discharges in quick succession. It is 
loud, and resembles precisely the sound of a six- 
pound piece of ordnance at the distance of three 
miles. The Minnetarees frequendy mentioned this 
noise like thunder, which they said the mountains 
made ; but we paid no attention to it, believing it to 
have been some superstition, or perhaps a falsehood. 
The watermen also of the party say that the Pawnees 
and Ricaras give the same account of a noise heard 
in the Black Mountains to the westward of them. 
The solution of the mystery given by the philosophy 
of the watermen is, that it is occasioned by the 
bursting of the rich mines of silver confined within 
the bosom of the mountain." 

Early in July the new boat was finished. It was 
very strong, and yet could be carried easily by five 
men. But when it was first launched they found 
that the tar-like material with which they had 
covered the skins that made the body of the boat 
would not withstand water, and so the craft leaked. 
After trying to repair the boat for several days they 
finally decided to abandon it. Putting all their 
luggage into the canoes they resumed their journey 
up the river. 



42 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

As the canoes were heavily loaded the men who 
were not needed to paddle them walked along the 
shore. The country here was very picturesque. At 
times they climbed hills that gave them wide views 
of open country never explored by white men ; again 
they waded through fields of wild rye, reminding 
them of the farm lands of the East ; sometimes their 
path wound through forests of redwood trees, and 
always they could see the high mountains, still snow- 
capped. The glistening light on the mountain tops 
told the explorers why they were called the Shining 
Mountains. 

Game was now less plentiful, and as they had to 
save the dried meat for the crossing of the moun- 
tains, it became a problem to provide food for the 
party of thirty-two people, who usually consumed a 
daily supply equal to an elk and deer, four deer or one 
buffalo. The wild berries, however, were now ripe, 
and as there were quantities of these they helped to 
furnish the larder. There were red, purple, yel- 
low, and black currants, gooseberries, and service- 
berries. The sunflower grew everywhere. Lewis 
wrote in his diary : " The Indians of the Missouri, 
more especially those who do not cultivate maize, 
make great use of the seed of this plant for bread or 
in thickening their soup. They first parch and then 
pound it between two stones until it is reduced to a 
fine meal. Sometimes they add a portion of water, 
and drink it thus diluted ; at other times they add a 
sufficient proportion of marrow grease to reduce it to 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 43 

the consistency of common dough and eat it in that 
manner. This last composition we preferred to all 
the rest, and thought it at that time a very palatable 
dish." 

The Missouri now flowed to the south, and on July 
i8th the party reached a wide stream, which they 
named Dearborn River in honor of the Secre- 
tary of War. Lewis meant to send back a small 
party in canoes from this point, but as he had not yet 
met the Snake Indians, and was uncertain as to their 
friendliness, he decided he had better not weaken 
his expedition here. He, however, sent Clark with 
three men on a scouting trip. Clark found an old 
Indian road, which he followed, but the prickly pears 
cut the feet of his men so badly that he could not 
go far. Along his track he strewed signals, pieces 
of cloth and paper, to show the Indians, if they should 
cross that trail, that the party was composed of white 
men. Before he returned the main party had dis- 
covered a great column of smoke up the valley, and 
suspected that this was an Indian signal to show that 
their approach had been discovered. Afterward 
they learned that this was the fact. The Indians 
had heard one of Clark's men fire a gun, and, taking 
alarm, had fled into the mountains, giving the smoke 
signal to warn the rest of the tribe. 

The high mountains now began to draw close to 
the expedition, and they camped one night at a 
place called the Gates of the Rocky Mountains. 
Here tremendous rocks rose directly from the river's 



44 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

edge almost twelve hundred feet in the air ; at the 
base they were made of black granite, but the upper 
part Lewis decided was probably flint of a yellowish 
brown and cream color. On July 25th the advance 
guard reached the three forks of the Missouri. 
Chaboneau was ill, and they had to wait until Lewis 
and the others caught up. They named the forks of 
the river Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson, in honor 
of the statesmen of those names. It was at this 
place that the Indian squaw Sacajawea had been in 
camp with her tribe five years before when the 
Minnetarees attacked them, killed some, and made a 
prisoner of her and some others. Lewis hoped that 
she would be able to help them if they should fall in 
with bands of her own tribe. 

As the main stream ended here, the party now fol- 
lowed the Jefferson River. They soon decided that 
it would be necessary to secure horses if they were 
to cross the mountains, and Lewis with three men 
set out to try to find the Shoshone Indians, from 
whom they might buy mounts. After several hours' 
march they saw a man on horseback coming across 
the plain toward them ; examining him through the 
glass Lewis decided that he belonged to a different 
tribe of Indians from any that they had yet met, prob- 
ably the Shoshones. He was armed with a bow and 
a quiver of arrows, and rode a good horse without a 
saddle, a small string attached to the lower jaw an- 
swering as a bridle. Lewis was anxious to convince 
him that the white men meant to be friendly, and 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 45 

went toward him at his usual pace. When they 
were still some distance apart the Indian suddenly 
stopped. Lewis immediately stopped also, and 
taking his blanket from his knapsack, and holding 
it with both hands at the four corners threw it 
above his head and then unfolded it as he brought 
it to the ground, as if in the act of spreading it. 
This signal, which was intended to represent the 
spreading of a robe as a seat for guests, was the 
common sign of friendship among the Indian tribes 
of the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. Lewis 
repeated the sign three times, and then taking some 
beads, a looking-glass, and a few other trinkets 
from his knapsack, and leaving his gun, walked on 
toward the Indian. But when he was within two hun- 
dred yards of him the Indian turned his horse and 
began to ride away. Captain Lewis then called to 
him, using words of the Shoshones. The captain's 
companions now walked forward, also, and their ad- 
vance evidently frightened the Indian, for he sud- 
denly whipped his horse and disappeared in a clump 
of willow bushes. When they returned to the camp 
Lewis packed some more Indian gifts in his knap- 
sack, and fastened a small United States flag to a 
pole to be carried by one of the men, which was 
intended as a friendly signal should the Indians 
see them advancing. 

The next day brought them to the head-waters of 
the Jefferson River, rising from low mountains. 
They had now reached the sources of the great 



46 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Missouri River, a place never before seen by white 
men. From this distant spot flowed the waters that 
traversed a third of the continent, finally flowing into 
the Mississippi near St. Louis. 

Leaving the river, they followed an Indian road 
through the hills, and reached the top of a ridge 
from which they could see more mountains, partly 
covered with snow. The ridge on which they stood 
marked the dividing line between the waters of the 
Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Going down the 
farther side they came to a creek, which was part of 
the Columbia River ; near this was a spring. They 
gathered enough dry willow brush for fuel, and 
halted for the night. Here they ate their last piece 
of pork, and had only a little flour and parched meal 
left in the way of provisions. Early next day Lewis 
went forward on foot, hoping to find some Indians. 
After several hours he saw three ; but they fled away. 
Later he came upon three Indian women ; one of them 
ran, but the other two, an elderly woman and a little 
girl, approached, evidently thinking that the strangers 
were too near for them to escape, and sat down on 
the ground. Lewis put down his rifle and walking 
to them, took the woman by the hand, and helped 
her up. He then rolled up his shirt sleeve to show 
that he was a white man, since his hands and face 
were almost as dark as an Indian's. His companions 
joined him, and they gave the Indians some pewter 
mirrors, beads, and other presents. He painted the 
women's cheeks with some vermilion paint, which 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 47 

was the Shoshone custom, meaning peace. He then 
made them understand by signs that he wished to 
go to their camp to see their chiefs. The squaw led 
the white men along a road for some two miles, when 
they met a band of sixty mounted warriors riding 
toward them. Again Lewis dropped his rifle, and 
courageously marched out to deal with these un- 
known red men. The chief and two others galloped 
up in advance and spoke to the women, who 
showed them the presents they had just received. 
Then the three Indians leaped from their horses, and 
coming up to Lewis, put their arms about him in 
friendly greeting, at the same time rubbing their 
cheeks against his and smearing considerable paint 
on his face. The other white men advanced and 
were greeted in the same way. Lewis gave presents 
to the warriors, and, lighting a pipe, offered it to 
them for the " smoke of peace." Before they smoked 
it, however, the Indians took off their moccasins, a 
custom which meant that they would go bare- 
footed forever, before they broke their treaty of 
friendship with their friends. The chief then turned 
and led the white men and his warriors to their 
camp. Here the white men were invited into a 
leathern lodge, and seated on green boughs and 
antelope skins. A small fire was lit in the centre. 
Again taking off their moccasins, the chief lighted 
a pipe made of some highly polished green stone ; 
after some words in his own tongue he handed the 
pipe to Captain Lewis, who then handed it to the 



48 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

other white men. Each took a few whiffs, and then 
passed it back to the warriors. After this ceremony 
was finished, Lewis explained that they were in great 
need of food. The chief presented them with cakes 
made of sun-dried service-berries and choke-cherries. 
Later another warrior gave them a piece of boiled 
antelope, and some fresh roasted salmon, the first 
salmon Lewis had seen, which convinced him that 
he was now on the waters of the Columbia River. 
He learned that the Indians had received word of 
the advance of his party, whom they at first took to 
be a hostile tribe, and had therefore set out, pre- 
pared for an attack. As a further sign of good- 
will, the white men were invited to witness an In- 
dian dance, which lasted nearly all night. It was 
late when the white men, tired by their long day's 
journey, were allowed to take their rest. 

On the next day Captain Lewis tried to persuade 
the Shoshones to accompany him across the divide 
in order to assist in bringing his baggage over. It 
took considerable argument to get the Indians to do 
this, and he had to promise them more gifts and 
arouse their curiosity by telling them that there were 
a black man and a native Indian woman in his camp, 
before he could induce them to consent. Finally 
the chief, Cameahwait, and several of his warriors 
agreed to go with Lewis. When they reached the 
place where the rest of the party were camped 
the chief was surprised and delighted to find 
that the Indian woman, Sacajawea, was his own 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 49 

sister, whom he had not seen since she had been 
captured by the enemies of his tribe. Clark's negro 
servant, York, caused much amazement to the 
Indians, who had never seen a man of his color 
before. Lewis then had a long talk with the 
Shoshones, telling them of the great power of the 
government he represented, and of the advantages 
they would receive by trading with the white men. 
Presently he won their good-will, and they agreed 
to give him four horses in exchange for firearms 
and other articles. Sacajawea was of the greatest 
help in the talk between the white men and the Sho- 
shones, and it was she who finally induced her brother 
to do all he could to assist the explorers. 

Lewis now sent Clark ahead to explore the route 
along the Columbia River, and to build canoes if 
possible. The Indians had told him that their road 
would lie over steep, rocky mountains, where there 
would be little or no game, and then for ten days 
across a sandy desert, Clark pushed on, and found 
all the Indians' reports correct. He met a few small 
parties of Indians, but they had no provisions to 
spare, and his men were soon exhausted from hunger 
and the weariness of marching over mountains. 
His expedition proved that it would be impossible 
for the main party to follow this river, to which he 
gave the name of Lewis, and he returned to the 
camp of the Shoshones, which Lewis and the others 
had made their headquarters. 

In this camp the white men made preparations for 



50 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the rest of their journey. They finally obtained 
twenty-nine young horses and saddles for them. 
They also studied the history and habits of this 
tribe, who had once been among the most powerful, 
but had been lately defeated in battle by their neigh- 
bors. The Shoshones were also called the Snake 
Indians, and lived along the rivers of the northwest, 
fishing for salmon and hunting buffaloes. Their 
chief wealth lay in their small, wiry horses, which 
were very sure-footed and fleet, and to which they 
paid a great deal of attention. 

On August 27th the expedition started afresh, 
with twenty-nine packhorses, heading across the 
mountains to other Indian encampments on another 
branch of the Columbia. Travel was slow, as in 
many places they had to cut a road for the ponies, 
and often the path was so rough that the heavily- 
burdened horses would slip and fall. Snow fell at 
one time, and added to the difficulty of the journey, 
but by September 6th they had passed the moun- 
tain range, and had come into a wide valley, at 
the head of a stream they called Clark's Fork of the 
Columbia. Here they met about four hundred 
Ootlashoot Indians, to whom they gave presents in 
exchange for fresh horses. Continuing again, they 
reached Traveler's Rest Creek, and here they 
stopped to hunt, as the Indians had told them that 
the country ahead held no game. After refurnishing 
their larder they pushed on westward, and ran into 
another snow-storm, which made riding more diffi- 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 51 

cult than ever. Their provisions were soon ex- 
hausted, game was lacking, and the situation was 
discouraging. The march had proved very tiring, 
and there was no immediate prospect of reaching 
better country. Lewis, therefore, sent Clark with 
six hunters ahead, but this light scouting party 
was able to find very little game, and was nearly 
exhausted, when on September 20th Clark came 
upon a village of the Chopunish or Nez Perces 
Indians, in a beautiful valley. These Indians had 
fish, roots, and berries, which they gave the white 
men, who at once sent some back to Lewis and 
the others. These provisions reached the main 
party at a time when they had been without food for 
more than a day. Strengthened by the supplies, 
and encouraged by news of the Indian village, they 
hastened forward, and reached the Nez Perces' en- 
campment. 

Their stock of firearms and small articles enabled 
them to buy provisions from these Indians ; and 
they moved on to the forks of the Snake River, 
where they camped for several days, to enable the 
party to regain its strength. They built five canoes 
in the Indian fashion, and launched them on the 
river, which they hoped would lead them to the 
ocean. Lewis hid his saddles and extra ammunition, 
and, having branded the horses, turned them over 
to three Indians, who agreed to take care of them 
until the party should return. 

The Snake River, flowing through beautiful 



52 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

country, was filled with rapids, and they had many 
hardships in passing them. At one place a canoe 
struck a rock, and immediately filled with water and 
sank. Several of the men could not swim, and were 
rescued with difficulty. At the same time they had 
to guard their supplies carefully at night from 
wandering Indians, who, although they were 
friendly, could not resist the temptation to steal 
small articles of all sorts. The rapids passed, the 
river brought them into the main stream of the 
Lewis River, and this in turn led them to the junc- 
tion of the Lewis and Columbia Rivers, which 
they reached on October 17th. Here they parted 
from the last of the Nez Perces Indians. The 
Columbia had as many rapids as the smaller river, 
and in addition they came to the Great Falls, where 
they had to lower the canoes by ropes made of elk- 
skin. At one or two places they had to make 
portages, but as this involved a great deal of extra 
labor, they tried to keep to the stream wherever they 
could. At one place a tremendous rock jutted into 
the river, leaving a channel only forty-five yards wide 
through which the Columbia passed, its waters 
tossed into great whirlpools and wild currents. 
Lewis decided that it would be impossible to carry 
the boats over this high rock, and determined to 
rely on skillful steering of them through the narrow 
passage. He succeeded in doing this, although 
Indians whom he had met shortly before had told 
him that it was impossible. At several places they 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 53 

landed most of the men and all the valuable articles, 
and the two chief explorers took the canoes through 
the rapids themselves, not daring to trust the navi- 
gation to less experienced hands. 

In this far-western country they were continually 
meeting wandering Indians, and they learned from 
them that the Pacific Ocean was not far distant. On 
October 28th Lewis found an Indian wearing a 
round hat and sailor's jacket, which had been brought 
up the river in trade, and soon after he found other 
red men wearing white men's clothes. On the thirty- 
first they came to more falls. Here they followed 
the example of their Indian friends, and carried the 
canoes and baggage across the slippery rocks to the 
foot of the rapids. The large canoes were brought 
down by slipping them along on poles, which were 
stretched from one rock to another. They had to 
stop constantly to make repairs to the boats, which 
had weathered all sorts of currents, and had been 
buffeted against innumerable rocks and tree-trunks. 
Then they discovered tide-water in the river, and 
pushed on eagerly to a place called Diamond Island. 
Here, Lewis wrote, " we met fifteen Indians ascend- 
ing the river in two canoes ; but the only information 
we could procure from them was that they had seen 
three vessels, which we presumed to be European, at 
the mouth of the Columbia." 

They came to more and more Indian villages, gen- 
erally belonging to the Skilloot tribe, who were very 
friendly, but who were too sharp at a bargain to 



54 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

please Captain Lewis. On November 7, 1805, they 
reached a point from which they could see the ocean. 
Lewis says : " The fog cleared off, and we enjoyed 
the delightful prospect of the ocean — that ocean, the 
object of all our labors, the reward of all our anxie- 
ties. This cheering view exhilarated the spirits of all 
the party, who were still more delighted on hearing 
the distant roar of the breakers, and went on with 
great cheerfulness." 

It was late in the year, and the captain wished to 
push on so that he might winter on the coast, but a 
heavy storm forced them to land and seek refuge 
under a high cliff. The waves on the river were 
very high, and the wind was blowing a gale directly 
from the sea ; great waves broke over the place 
where they camped, and they had to use the utmost 
care to save their canoes from being smashed by 
drifting logs. Here they had to stay for six days, in 
which time their clothes and food v/ere drenched, and 
their supply of dried fish exhausted ; but the men 
bore these trials lightly now that they were so near 
the Pacific Ocean. When the gale ended they ex- 
plored the country for a good place to establish their 
winter quarters. The captain finally decided to 
locate on a point of high land above the river Neutel, 
well beyond the highest tide, and protected by a 
grove of lofty pines. Here they made their perma- 
nent camp, which was called Fort Clatsop. They 
built seven wooden huts in which to spend the winter. 
They lived chiefly on elk, to which they added fish 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 55 

and berries in the early spring. A whale stranded on 
the beach provided them with blubber, and they 
found salt on the shore. The winter passed without 
any unusual experiences, and gave the captain an 
opportunity to make a full record of the country 
through which he had passed, and of the Indian 
tribes he had met. 

The original plan was to remain at Fort Clatsop 
until April, when Lewis expected to renew his stock 
of merchandise from the trading vessels, which visited 
the mouth of the Columbia every spring ; but as the 
winter passed the constant rain brought sickness 
among the men, and game grew more and more 
scarce, so that it was decided to make an earlier re- 
turn. Before they did this Lewis wrote out an ac- 
count of his expedition, and arranged to have this 
delivered to the trading vessels when they should ar- 
rive, and in this way the news of his discoveries 
would not be lost in case anything should happen to 
his own party. The Indians agreed to deliver the 
packets, and one of the messages, carried by an 
American trader, finally reached Boston by way of 
China in February, 1807, some six months after 
Lewis himself had returned to the East. On March 
24, 1806, they started back on their long route of 
four thousand one hundred and forty-four miles to 
St. Louis. 

Searching for fish, they found the Multonah or 
Willamette River, and Lewis wrote that the valley of 
this stream would furnish the only desirable place of 



56 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, Here he 
found rich prairies, plenty of fish and game, unusual 
plants of various sorts, and abundant timber. Soon 
they reached the village of the Walla Walla Indians, 
who received them so hospitably that the captain 
said of all the Indians they had met since leaving the 
United States this tribe was the most honest and 
sincere. With twenty-three horses, and Walla Walla 
Indians as guides, they followed a new road up the 
valley of the Lewis or Snake River, which saved 
them eighty miles of their westward route. It was 
still too early to cross the mountains, and they camped 
near the place where they had trusted their thirty- 
eight horses to their Indian friends the autumn before. 
The Indians returned the horses in exchange for 
merchandise, and Lewis provided them with food. 
In all these meetings the squaw wife of the French 
trader was invaluable. Usually Lewis spoke in Eng- 
lish, which was translated by one of his men into 
French for the benefit of the trapper Chaboneau, who 
repeated it in the tongue of the Minnetarees to his 
wife ; she would then repeat the words in the Sho- 
shone tongue, and most of the Indians could then 
understand them, or some could repeat them to the 
others in their own dialect. 

Early in June they tried to cross the mountains, 
but the snow was ten feet deep on a level, and they 
had to abandon the attempt until late in the month. 
They finally crossed, and found their trail of the 
previous September. At this point the party divided 



THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK 57 

in order to explore different parts of the country. 
Lewis took a direct road to the Great Falls of the Mis- 
souri, where he wished to explore Maria's River. 
Clark went on to the head of the Jefferson River, 
where he was to find the canoes that they had hid- 
den, and cross by the shortest route to the Yellow- 
stone ; and the two parties were to meet at the 
mouth of the Yellowstone River. Lack of game 
prevented Lewis getting far into the country along 
Maria's River. On this journey he fell in with a 
band of Minnetarees, and some of them tried to steal 
his guns and horses. The only real fight of the 
journey followed, in which two Indians were killed. 
He then continued eastward, and on August 7th 
reached the mouth of the Yellowstone, where he 
found a note telling him that Clark had camped a 
few miles below. 

In the meantime Clark had explored a large part 
of the valleys of the Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison 
Rivers, and had found a boiling-hot spring at the 
head of the Wisdom River, one of the first signs of 
the wonders of the Yellowstone. His journey was 
made safely and comfortably, although at one place 
he had to stop to build fresh canoes, and during this 
delay a band of Indians stole twenty-four of his 
packhorses. 

The united party descended the Missouri, and 
found that other explorers were already following in 
their track. They met two men from Illinois who 
had pushed as far west as the Yellowstone on a 



58 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

hunting trip, and back of them they heard of hunt- 
ers and trappers who were pushing into this unex- 
plored region. Travel homeward was rapid, and 
on September 23, 1806, the expedition arrived at 
St. Louis, from which they had started two years 
and four months before. At the place where they 
parted with the last of the Minnetarees they said 
good-bye to Chaboneau, his Indian wife, and child. 
The squaw had been of the greatest service to them , 
but for her it is possible that the expedition might 
never have been able to get through the Shoshone 
country. Lewis offered to take the three to the 
United States, but the French trader said that he pre- 
ferred to remain among the Indians. He was paid 
five hundred dollars, which included the price of a 
horse and lodge that had been purchased from him. 
The wonderful journey had been a complete suc- 
cess. The explorers had passed through strange 
tribes of Indians, dangers from hunger and hardship 
in the high mountains, the desert, and the plains, 
and had brought back a remarkable record of the 
scenes and people they had met. From their re- 
ports the people of the United States first learned 
the true value of that great Louisiana Territory, 
which had been bought for such a small price in 
money, but which was to furnish homesteads for 
thousands of pioneers. The work begun by the 
brave French explorers of earlier centuries was 
brought to a triumphant close by these two native 
American discoverers. 



Ill 

THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 

There is a small island in the Ohio River, two 
miles below the town of Parkersburg, that is still 
haunted with the memory of a strange conspiracy. 
In 1805 the island, then some three hundred acres in 
size, belonged to an Irish gentleman, Harman Blen- 
nerhassett, who had built a beautiful home there and 
planted fields of hemp. For a time he and his 
family lived there in great content, Blennerhassett 
himself being devoted to science and to music, but 
presently he felt the need of increasing his small 
fortune and looked about for a suitable enterprise. 
Then there was introduced to him a gentleman from 
New York, a very well-known man by the name of 
Aaron Burr. He also was seeking to make his for- 
tune, and he took Blennerhassett into his confidence. 
Together they plotted a conspiracy. They started 
to put their plans into action, and many people 
called them patriots, and many called them traitors. 
History does not know all the secrets of that small 
island, but it tells a curious story of the conspiracy. 

Aaron Burr was a very talented and fascinating 
man, but he was a born adventurer. At this time 
he was about fifty years old. He had fought in the 



6o HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Revolution, and practiced law in New York City, 
where he divided honors with Alexander Hamilton, 
the most brilliant attorney of the period. He had 
been elected a senator, and then had become a can- 
didate for President of the United States. In the 
election of 1800 the Electoral College cast seventy- 
three votes apiece for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron 
Burr, and these two candidates led all the others. 
As there was a tie, the choice of President was 
thrown into the House of Representatives, and 
there followed a long and bitter fight. Finally Jef- 
ferson was chosen President, and Burr Vice-Presi- 
dent. In the long campaign Burr made many 
enemies, chief among whom were the powerful New 
York families of Clinton and Livingston. These 
men charged him with being a political trickster, and 
won most of his followers away from him When 
Burr became a candidate for Governor of New York 
he was beaten, and his defeat was made more bitter 
by the stinging attacks of his old rival, Alexander 
Hamilton. 

In that day it was still the custom for gentlemen 
to settle questions of honor on the dueling field. 
Burr, stung by Hamilton's criticisms, challenged 
him, and the two met on the heights of Vl^eehaw- 
ken, overlooking the Hudson River. Here Burr 
wounded Hamilton so severely that the latter died a 
few days later. Hounded by Hamilton's friends, 
the luckless Burr now found himself cast out by 
both the Federalists and Republicans, and with no 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 61 

political future. Yet he knew that he had unusual 
talents for leadership. Still filled with ambition and 
in great need of money, he saw that there was little 
opportunity for him at home, and began to turn his 
eyes outside of the Republic. 

The western world was then a wonderful field for 
daring adventurers. Thirteen small colonies lying 
close to the Atlantic Ocean had less than twenty 
years before thrown off the yoke of a great Euro- 
pean nation. Men had already pushed west to the 
Mississippi, and settled the fertile fields beyond the 
Alleghanies. Across the great " Mother of Rivers " 
lay a vast tract that men knew little about. To the 
south lay Spanish colonies and islands. The Gulf of 
Mexico was the home of freebooters and pirates. 
In Europe a man of the people named Napoleon 
Bonaparte was carving out an empire for himself, 
and stirring the blood of all ambitious men. Sol- 
diers of fortune everywhere were wondering 
whether they might not follow in Napoleon's foot- 
steps. 

It is hard to say in which direction Burr was 
tempted first. He wanted to hide his real plans not 
only from his own countrymen, but from the Eng- 
lish, French, and Spanish agents as well. He first 
pretended to Anthony Merry, the British minister at 
Washington, that he intended to join a conspiracy 
to start a revolution in the Spanish colonies, in the 
hope of turning them into a new republic. Mr. 
Merry told his government that it would be to the 



62 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

advantage of England if Mr. Burr's plans succeeded. 
But even then Burr was working on a different 
scheme. He thought that the people of Louisiana, 
a large territory at the mouth of the Mississippi 
River, which had only lately become a part of the 
United States, might be induced to separate into a 
new nation of their own. He needed money for his 
plans, and so he kept pointing out to the British 
minister the many advantages to England if either 
the Spanish colonies or Louisiana should win free- 
dom. A third plan was also dawning in Burr's 
mind, the possibility of entering Mexico and carving 
out a kingdom there for himself. So he began by 
dealing with the agents of different countries, trying 
to get money from each for his own secret schemes. 

In the spring of 1805 Burr set out for the West. 
He took coach for the journey over the mountains 
to Pittsburgh, where he had arranged by letter to 
meet General James Wilkinson, the governor of the 
new territory of Louisiana. Wilkinson was delayed, 
however, and so Burr embarked in an ark that he 
had ordered built to sail down the Ohio River. 
After several days on the water he reached Blenner- 
hassett Island early in May. The owner of the 
island was away from home, but his wife invited 
Burr to their house, and he learned from her that 
her husband was looking for a way to mend his 
fortunes. 

Next day Burr continued his journey in the ark. 
He reached Cincinnati, then a very small town of 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 63 

fifteen hundred people, where he talked over his 
plans with several friends. From Cincinnati he 
went to Louisville, and from there rode to Frankfort. 
At Nashville he was the guest of Andrew Jackson, 
who was major-general of the Tennessee militia. 
Word spread about that Aaron Burr was plotting to 
free Florida and the West Indies from Spanish 
rule, and the liberty-loving settlers welcomed him 
with open arms. 

Leaving Andrew Jackson, Burr floated in an open 
boat to the mouth of the Cumberland River, where 
his ark, which had come down the Ohio, was wait- 
ing for him. The ark made its first stop at a frontier 
post called Fort Massac, and there Burr met Gen- 
eral Wilkinson of Louisiana. These two men were 
real soldiers of fortune. They had fought side by 
side at the walls of Quebec, and Wilkinson, like 
many another, had fallen under the spell of Burr's 
charm. They probably discussed the whole situa- 
tion : how a small army might seize Florida, how a 
small navy could drive the Spaniards from Cuba, 
how a daring band of frontiersmen could march 
from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico. Wilkinson 
seemed delighted with Burr's schemes, and when he 
left he provided his friend with a large barge 
manned by ten soldiers and a sergeant. 

In this imposing vessel Burr sailed on down the Mis- 
sissippi to New Orleans, and on June 25, 1805, landed 
at that quaint old city. It was already a place of 
much importance ; seagoing ships and thousands 



64 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

of river flatboats docked at its levees, for it was the 
chief port for sending goods to Mexico and the 
other Spanish colonies. Burr brought letters to 
many prominent people, and a public dinner was 
given in his honor. The visitor had been Vice- 
President of the United States, and was said to be 
the leader of a band of mysterious patriots. En- 
thusiasm ran high in New Orleans when their guest 
said, as he had already announced in Tennessee, 
that he intended to devote his life to overthrowing 
all Spanish rule in America. 

Day after day the soldier of fortune was busy 
with his plans. When he started north on horse- 
back he carried with him the fame of a great patriot. 
Wherever he stopped, at cabins, at villages, or cities, 
the frontiersmen wanted to shake his hand. He rode 
four hundred and fifty miles through the wilderness 
from Natchez to Nashville, where he again visited An- 
drew Jackson, who promised him Tennessee soldiers 
for a war on Spain. At St. Louis he learned that 
General Zebulon Pike was exploring the best route 
over the plains to Santa Fe, and many letters told 
him that the time was ripe to settle old grudges 
with the borderers of Mexico. Everything seemed 
favorable to his adventure. Burr had only to decide 
where he would strike first. He was back in the 
East by the middle of November, 1805, having 
filled the whole country with rumors of wild plots 
and insurrections. He was a figure of mystery. 
People whispered that Aaron Burr was to be the 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 65 

Washington of a new republic in the West, or the 
king of a country to be carved out of Mexico. 

By the summer of 1806 Burr knew that he could 
not get money from England to further his plans. 
He would have to depend on his own countrymen in 
any attack on Mexico or Spain. His journey had 
showed him that many of them were eager to follow 
his lead. Troubles were daily increasing along the 
borders of Florida and Mexico. It looked easy to 
take an army into Florida, but there would be more 
profit in the rich country to the southwest. His 
friend, General Wilkinson, had just been sent to 
drive the Mexicans across the Sabine River, the 
western boundary of Louisiana, and Burr thought 
this was a good chance to go west again, and per- 
haps call the settlers to arms. Men he trusted started 
west early in the summer of 1806, and Burr, with his 
daughter, and a Colonel De Pestre, who had fought 
in the French Revolution, and a few friends and 
servants, set out in August for their meeting-place 
on Blennerhassett Island. When he arrived there 
he was warmly welcomed by the owner. Burr 
showed Blennerhassett how he could make his for- 
tune in Mexico, because if the conspiracy were suc- 
cessful they could take a large part of that country 
for themselves. Fired by Burr's story the men on 
the island immediately began preparations. They 
sent to the town of Marietta for one hundred barrels 
of pork, and contracted to have fifteen boats de- 
livered at the island the following December. A 



66 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

kiln was built near Blennerhassett's house for drying 
corn, which was then ground into meal, and packed 
for shipping. All sorts of provisions were purchased, 
and the Blennerhassett family prepared to send their 
household goods down the river. Word of the plans 
spread, and men in various towns near the Ohio 
made ready to join the expedition. When the 
leader should send out his messengers recruits would 
come pouring'in. 

In the meantime Burr himself had left the litde 
island and covered a wide stretch of country. He 
wanted to be sure of Andrew Jackson's aid, and he 
found that fiery warrior as ready as ever to fight 
Spaniard or Mexican in the cause of liberty. The 
general still thought that his friend Burr's only ob- 
ject was to free all of North America. Eager in that 
cause, Jackson sent word to the Tennessee militia, 
urging them to be ready for instant duty against the 
Spaniards, who, he said, had already captured sev- 
eral citizens of the United States, had cut down our 
* flag, had driven our explorers away from the Red 
River, and had taken an insulting position on the 
east bank of the River Sabine, in the territory of 
Orleans. He wrote to President Jefferson offering 
to lead his Tennessee militia against the troops of 
Spain. A large part of the country expected war at 
once. Burr, for his own purposes, did all he could 
to inflame this warlike feeling. 

In October the chief conspirator met his daughter, 
Theodosia Alston, her husband, and Blennerhassett 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 67 

at Lexington, Kentucky. He now arranged to buy 
a tract, known as the Bastrop lands, which included 
nearly a million acres in northern Louisiana on the 
Washita River. This purchase he meant to use as a 
blind, intending to settle there only in case his other 
plans failed. If the United States Government 
should suspect the conspirators of plotting against 
Mexico, they could pretend to be merely setders, 
armed to defend themselves in case the Spaniards 
should overrun their borders. The tract would be 
valuable in any case, because of the rich bottom- 
lands and vast forests, and made a splendid base for 
a raid into the Spanish provinces. 

Recruits were added daily to Burr's forces. He 
told them as much or as litde of his schemes as he 
thought advisable. To some he said that he was a 
secret agent of the government, to others that he 
only meant to start a new pioneer setdement. If 
there should be war with Spain the men who followed 
him would share in the spoils, if victorious. If there 
was no war they would be ready to protect the 
border against invaders. 

There were some people, however, who could not 
get over their distrust of Burr because of what he 
had done. The mysterious preparations at Blenner- 
hassett Island caused some uneasiness in the neigh- 
borhood, and on October 6th a mass meedng of the 
people of Wood County, Virginia, was held, and 
the military preparations on the island were de- 
nounced. Blennerhassett was away at the time, but 



68 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

his wife, hearing of the meeting, grew uneasy, and 
sent her gardener, Peter Taylor, to tell her husband 
this news. Taylor found the conspirators at Lexing- 
ton, and gave them Mrs. Blennerhassett's message. 
The gardener was evidently taken into his master's 
confidence, because he said later that the plan was 
" to take Mexico, one of the finest and richest places 
in the whole world." He added, " Colonel Burr 
would be the King of Mexico, and Mrs. Alston, 
daughter of Colonel Burr, was to be Queen of Mexico, 
whenever Colonel Burr died. . . . Colonel Burr 
had made fortunes for many in his time, but none 
for himself ; but now he was going to make some- 
thing for himself. He said that he had a great many 
friends in the Spanish territory ; no less than two 
thousand Roman Catholic priests were engaged, and 
all their friends would join, if once he could get to 
them ; that the Spaniards, like the French, had got 
dissatisfied with their government, and wanted to 
swap it." 

President Jefferson could no longer overlook the 
adventures of Burr and his friends. He knew that 
very little was needed to kindle the flame of war on 
the Mexican border. But he had his hands full with 
foreign affairs ; England was making trouble for 
American sailors, and Napoleon was setting the 
whole world by the ears. So the busy President 
wrote to his agents in the West and urged them to 
keep a secret watch over Colonel Burr and Blenner- 
hassett Island. 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 69 

War with Spain almost came that summer. There 
were many disputed boundary lines between the 
United States and the Spanish colonies. The Span- 
ish troops in Florida, Texas, and Mexico were pre- 
pared for an attack from the United States, and 
Spanish agents were urging Indian tribes to rise 
against the white men. Men protested in West- 
ern cities and towns. The people of Orleans Ter- 
ritory were afraid that Spain was going to try to 
win back their country by force of arms. On the 
4th of July, 1806, the people of New Orleans held a 
great patriotic celebration, and in the evening a play 
called, " Washington ; or the Liberty of the New 
World," was acted to a huge audience. Even the 
Creoles, who were more Spanish than Anglo-Saxon, 
were eager to fight against the old tyranny of Spain. 

In the midst of this war excitement word came 
that a man born in Venezuela, named Francesco 
Miranda, had sailed from New York to free his 
native country from Spanish rule. Miranda was 
looked upon as a hero and patriot by many people 
in the United States, and this encouraged Burr and 
his friends. 

There were in 1806 about one thousand soldiers 
in Texas, which was then a province of Mexico. 
These troops were ordered to cross the Sabine 
River, which formed a part of the disputed bound- 
ary, and as soon as they did cross the governor of 
Louisiana called for volunteers, and the people of 
Mississippi Territory prepared to march to the aid 



70 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

of New Orleans. The meeting place of the volun- 
teers was Natchitoches, and there hundreds of coun- 
trymen came flocking, armed, and eager to defend 
Louisiana. Everything seemed ready for Aaron 
Burr to launch his great adventure. But at this 
point Burr's former friend. General James Wilkinson, 
the governor of Louisiana, changed his mind as to 
the wisdom of Burr's schemes. He would not give 
the order to the volunteers to march to the Mexican 
border, but waited, hoping that President Jefferson 
would prevent the war by diplomacy, or that the 
Spanish troops would decide to retreat. 

On September 27th a great crowd in Nashville 
hailed Colonel Burr as the deliverer of the South- 
west, and Andrew Jackson proclaimed, " Millions 
for defense ; not one cent for tribute ; " and at the 
same time the Mexican General Herrera ordered his 
troops to retreat from the River Sabine. Danger of 
war was over, and the moment the flag of Spain left 
the Louisiana shore. Burr's dream of an empire for 
himself and his friends vanished. 

General Wilkinson knew that the government in 
Washington was suspicious of Aaron Burr's plans, 
and he thought that his name was included among 
those of Burr's friends. Some newspapers had even 
linked their names together, and the general, know- 
ing perhaps the treachery of his own thoughts, now 
decided to prove his patriotism by accusing Aaron 
Burr and the others of treason. All the time that he 
was making a treaty with the Mexican general on 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 71 

the Texan frontier he was also working up a strong 
case against Burr. He saw to it that the agents put 
all suspicion on the shoulders of the others, and 
made him appear as the one man who had tried his 
best to protect his country. He intended to show 
that not only was he not a traitor, but that he was 
able to unmask traitors, by having pretended to join 
with them earlier. 

In his sudden eagerness to prevent war with the 
Mexicans, General Wilkinson made terms of peace 
with them, which proved a great disadvantage to 
the United States at a later date, but which pleased 
the peace party of the day. He met the Mexican 
general at the very time when Burr and his allies 
were ready to launch their fleet of boats on the 
Mississippi River. Then Wilkinson made haste to 
raise the cry of " Treason in the West," which was 
to echo through the United States for months, and 
ruin the reputation of many men. 

President Jefferson trusted Wilkinson, and when 
he heard the latter's charges against Burr he sent a 
special messenger to see what was happening at 
Blennerhassett Island. Before the messenger reached 
the Alleghany Mountains, however, another man had 
accused Burr in the court at Frankfort, Kentucky, 
of having broken the laws of the country in starting 
an expedition against Mexico. Burr said that he 
could easily answer these charges, and sent a mes- 
sage to Blennerhassett, telling him not to be dis- 
turbed. He went to the court at Frankfort, and 



72 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

when the man who had accused him could not 
bring his witnesses the matter was promptly dropped. 
Burr was more a hero than ever to the people of 
Frankfort. They agreed with a leading newspaper 
that said, " Colonel Burr has throughout this busi- 
ness conducted himself with the calmness, modera- 
tion, and firmness which have characterized him 
through life. He evinced an earnest desire for a 
full and speedy investigation — free from irritation or 
emotion ; he excited the strongest sensation of re- 
spect and friendship in the breast of every impartial 
person present." 

Burr then went back to Lexington, and continued 
raising money to buy a fleet of boats. Andrew 
Jackson had already received three thousand dollars 
in Kentucky for this purpose. Blennerhassett went 
on enrolling volunteers. It looked as if Burr's con- 
duct at Frankfort had put an end to the rumors of 
treason. 

General Wilkinson, however, was still anxious to 
make a name for himself as a great patriot, and he 
kept sending alarming messages to Washington. 
He accused his former friend of all sorts of treason. 
It was also perfectly clear that a large number of 
boats were being gathered on the Ohio under orders 
of Burr and his friends, and so President Jefferson 
sent word to the officers at Marietta to post one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred soldiers on the 
river to prevent Burr's fleet sailing. With the news 
of this order people in the West began to suspect 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 73 

their former hero, and even some of his old allies 
grew doubtful of his patriotism. 

Wilkinson increased the alarm by orders he gave 
in New Orleans as governor of Louisiana Territory. 
He began to make military arrests, locking up all 
those he distrusted, and all those who were admirers 
of Aaron Burr. He had gunboats stationed in the 
river, and they were ordered to fire on Burr's fleet if 
it ever got that far, and he refused to allow any boats 
to ascend the Mississippi without his express per- 
mission. All this preparation caused great excite- 
ment in New Orleans, which spread through the 
neighboring country. It seemed as if General 
Wilkinson were trying to force the people to believe 
there was some great conspiracy on foot. 

The colonel and his allies tried to explain that 
their fleet of boats was simply to carry settlers, arms 
and provisions into the Bastrop tract of land that 
they had bought ; but by now nobody would believe 
them. On December 9, 1806, the boats that Blenner- 
hassett had been gathering on the Muskingum River 
were seized by order of the governor of Ohio. 
Patrols were placed along the Ohio River, and the 
militia called out to capture Blennerhassett and the 
men with him. The next day the Virginia militia 
declared that they meant to find out the secret of 
Blennerhassett Island. The owner and his friend. 
Comfort Tyler, had word of this, and at once pre- 
pared for flight. At midnight they left the island 
and started down the Ohio by boat. The Virginia 



74 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

troops arrived to find the place deserted, and, leaving 
sentinels there, started in pursuit of Blennerhassett. 
The next day the sentries captured a flatboat with 
fourteen boys on board, who were coming from 
Pittsburgh to join Burr. People along the Ohio 
began to expect attacks from Burr's recruits. 
Cincinnati was especially alarmed. One of the news- 
papers there stated that three of Burr's armed boats 
were anchored near the city, which they meant to 
attack. That night some practical joker exploded a 
bomb, and the people thought that Burr's army was 
firing on them. The citizens armed, and the militia 
was called out, but when they came to inspect the 
boats on the river next day they found that those 
they thought belonged to Burr were vessels of a 
Louisville merchant loaded with dry-goods. No 
story was now too wild to be believed when it was 
attached to the name of Burr or Blennerhassett. 

Burr now only intended to sail down to his own 
lands. On December 20th he sent word to Blenner- 
hassett that he would be at the mouth of the Cumber- 
land River on the twenty-third. Two days later he 
put a number of horses on one of his boats, and with 
a few men to help him, floated down the Cumber- 
land River to its mouth, where Blennerhassett and 
the rest of their party were waiting for him. They 
joined their seven boats to his two vessels, and had 
a fleet of nine ships with about sixty men on board. 
On December 28th they sailed down the Ohio, and 
the next night anchored a little below Fort Massac. 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 75 

Country people along the river saw the flotilla 
pass, and sent word of it to the nearest military post. 
The captain there stopped all ships, but found noth- 
ing suspicious on any of them. " Colonel Burr, late 
Vice-President," the officer reported, *' passed this 
way with about ten boats of different descriptions, 
navigated with about six men each, having nothing 
on board that would even suffer a conjecture more 
than that he was a man bound to market. He has 
descended the river toward Orleans." 

On the last day of 1806 the fleet reached the broad 
waters of the Mississippi River. Four days later 
they dropped anchor at Chickasaw Bluffs, now the 
city of Memphis. Again officers boarded the boats, 
and after examining the cargoes allowed them to go 
on their voyage. On January loth they reached 
Mississippi Territory, and here they found the ex- 
citement intense. 

The fleet was now in territory that was under the 
charge of General Wilkinson, and he immediately 
sent three hundred and seventy-five soldiers from 
Natchez to prevent Burr's further progress. On 
January i6th two officers rowed out to the boats, 
and were received pleasantly by Colonel Burr, who 
laughed at General Wilkinson's suspicions, and, 
pointing to his peaceful flotilla, asked if it looked as 
if it were meant for war? When he was told that 
the soldiers had orders to stop him, he answered that 
he was willing to appear in court at an)^ time. This 
satisfied the two officers, who asked him to ride next 



76 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

day to the town of Washington, which was the 
capital of Mississippi Territory, and appear before 
the court there. Burr agreed, and early next morn- 
ing rode to Washington with the two officers who 
had called on him. There he was charged with 
having conspired against the United States govern- 
ment. His friends on the river remained on their 
boats, waiting for his return. The expedition never 
went any farther. 

Burr promised to stay in the Territory until the 
charges against him were cleared up. His charm 
of manner won him many friends, and people would 
not believe him a traitor. When the grand jury 
met they decided that Aaron Burr was not guilty of 
treason. The judge, however, would not set him 
free, and Burr realized that General Wilkinson was 
using all his power against him. He thought that 
his only chance of safety lay in defying the court, 
and taking the advice of some friends fled to a 
hiding-place near the home of Colonel Osmun, an 
old acquaintance. He meant to leave that part of 
the country, but the severe weather blocked his plans. 
Heavy rains had swollen all the streams, and he 
had to change his route. He set out with one com- 
panion, but had to ask a farmer the road to the 
house of Colonel Hinson. The farmer suspected 
that one of the horsemen was Aaron Burr, and knew 
that a large reward had been offered for his capture. 
He carried his news to the sheriff, and then to the 
officers at Fort Stoddert. A lieutenant from the fort 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR ;/ 

with four soldiers joined the farmer, and, mounting 
fast horses, they rode after the two men. Early the 
next morning they came up with them. The lieu- 
tenant demanded in the name of the government of 
the United States whether one of the horsemen was 
Colonel Burr. Aaron Burr admitted his name, and 
was put under arrest. He was taken to the fort, and 
held there as a fugitive from justice. 

The cry of " Treason in the West " had been 
heard all over the country. The great expedition 
against Mexico had dwindled to a small voyage to 
settle certain timber-lands. The formidable fleet was 
only nine ordinary river boats. The army of rebels 
had shrunk to less than sixty peaceful citizens ; 
and the store of arms and ammunition had been 
reduced to a few rifles and powder-horns. More- 
over Aaron Burr had neither attempted to fight nor 
to resist arrest. He had merely fled when he 
thought he stood Httle chance of a fair trial. Yet 
the cry of treason had so alarmed the country that 
the government found it necessary to try the man 
who had so nearly defeated Jefferson for the 
Presidency. 

Orders were sent to bring Aaron Burr east. After 
a journey that lasted twenty-one days the prisoner 
was lodged in the Eagle Tavern in Richmond, 
Virginia. Here Chief-Justice Marshall examined the 
charges against Burr, and held him in bail to appear 
at the next term of court. The bail was secured, 
and on the afternoon of April ist Burr was once 



78 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

more set at liberty. From then until the day of the 
trial interest in the case grew. Everywhere people 
discussed the question whether Aaron Burr had been 
a traitor to his country. By the time for the hearing 
of the case feeling against him ran high. When 
court met on May 22, 1807, Richmond was crowded 
with many of the most prominent men of the time, 
drawn by the charges against a man who had so lately 
been Vice-President. 

It was not until the following August that Colonel 
Burr was actually put on trial. The question was 
simply whether he had planned to make war against 
the United States. There were many witnesses, led 
by the faithless General Wilkinson, who were ready 
to declare that the purpose of the meetings at 
Blennerhassett Island was to organize an army to 
divide the western country from the rest of the 
republic. Each side was represented by famous 
lawyers ; and the battle was hard fought. In the 
end, however, the jury found that Aaron Burr was 
not guilty of treason. No matter what Burr and 
Blennerhassett and their friends had planned to do 
in Mexico, the jury could not believe they had been 
so mad as to plot a war against the United States. 

Burr, although now free, was really a man without 
a country. He went to England and France, and in 
both countries engaged in plans for freeing the 
colonies of Spain. But both in England and in 
France the people looked upon him with suspicion, 
remembering his strange history. At the end of 



THE CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR 79 

four years he returned to the United States. Here 
he found that some of his early plans were coming 
to fulfilment. Revolts were breaking out in Florida, 
in Mexico, and in some of the West Indies. He was 
allowed no part in any of these uprisings. Florida 
became a part of the United States, and in time Burr 
saw the men of Texas begin a struggle for freedom 
from Mexico. When he read the news of this, he 
exclaimed, " There I You see ! I was right ! I was 
only thirty years too soon. What was treason in me 
thirty years ago is patriotism now ! " Later he was 
asked whether he had really planned to divide the 
Union when he started on his voyage from Blenner- 
hassett Island. He answered, " No ; I would as soon 
have thought of taking possession of the moon, and 
informing my friends that I intended to divide it 
among them." 

Such is the story of Aaron Burr, a real soldier of 
fortune, who wanted to carve out a new country for 
himself, and came to be " a man without a country." 



IV 

HOW THE YOUNG REPUBLIC FOUGHT 
THE BARBARY PIRATES 



Long after pirates had been swept from the West- 
ern Ocean they flourished in the Mediterranean Sea. 
They hailed from the northern coast of Africa, where 
between the Mediterranean and the desert of Sahara 
stretched what were known as the Barbary States. 
These states were Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, 
and the tiny state of Barca, which was usually in- 
cluded in Tripoli. Algeria, or, as it was commonly 
called from the name of its capital, Algiers, was the 
home of most of the Mediterranean pirates. 

There was hardly a port in the whole of that inland 
sea that had not seen a fleet of the pirates' boats 
sweep down upon some innocent merchant vessel, 
board her, overpower the crew, and carry them off to 
be sold in the African slave-markets. Their ships were 
usually square-rigged sailing vessels, which were 
commonly called galleons. The pirates did not trust 
to cannon, and the peculiar shape of the ships gave 
them a good chance for hand-to-hand fighting. The 
dark-skinned crew would climb out on the long 
lateen yards that hung over their enemies' deck, and 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 8i 

drop from the yards and from the rigging, their 
sabers held between their teeth, their loaded pistols 
stuck in their belts, so that they might have free use 
of their hands for climbing and clinging to ropes and 
gunwales. 

Strange as it seems, the great countries of Europe 
made no real effort to destroy these pirates of the 
Barbary coast, but instead actually paid them bribes 
in order to protect their crews. The larger coun- 
tries thought that, as they could afford to pay the 
tribute that the pirates demanded, and their smaller 
rivals could not, the pirates might actually serve 
them by annoying other countries. So England and 
France, and the other big nations of Europe, put up 
with all sorts of insults at the hands of these Moorish 
buccaneers, and many times their consuls were ill- 
treated and their sailors made to work in slave-gangs 
because they had not paid as much tribute as the 
Moors demanded. 

Many an American skipper fell into the hands of 
these corsairs. The brig Polly of Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, was heading for the Spanish port of 
Cadiz in October, 1793, when she was overhauled by 
a brig flying the English flag. As the brig came 
near her captain hailed the Polly in English, asking 
where she was bound. Meanwhile the brig ran close 
in beside the Polly, and the Americans saw a large 
number of men. Moors by the look of their beards 
and dress, spring up from under the rail. This crew 
launched a big boat, and nearly one hundred men, 



82 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

armed with swords, pistols, spears, and knives, were 
rowed up to the Polly. The Moors sprang on board. 
The Yankees were greatly outnumbered, and were 
driven into the cabin, while the pirates broke open 
all the trunks and chests, and stripped the brig of 
everything that could be moved. The prisoners 
were then rowed to the Moorish ship, which sailed 
for Algiers. There they were landed and marched 
to the palace of the Dey, or ruler of Algiers, while 
the people clapped their hands, shouted, and gave 
thanks for the capture of so many " Christian dogs." 
They were put in prison, where they found other 
Americans, and nearly six hundred Christians of 
other countries, all of whom were treated as slaves. 
On the next day each captive was loaded with chains, 
fastened around his waist and joined to a ring about 
his ankle. They were then set to work in rigging 
and fitting out ships, in blasting rocks in the moun- 
tains, or carrying stones for the palace the Dey was 
building. Their lot was but little better than that of 
the slaves of olden times who worked for the 
Pharaohs. As more American sailors were captured 
and made slaves their friends at home grew more 
and more eager to put an end to these pirates, and 
when the Revolution was over the young Republic 
of the United States began to heed the appeals for 
help that came from the slave-markets along the 
Barbary coast. 

The Republic found, however, that so long as 
England and France were paying tribute to the 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 83 

pirates it would be easier for her to do the same 
thing than to fight them. The American Navy was 
very small, and the Mediterranean was far distant. 
England seemed actually to be encouraging the 
pirates, thinking that their attacks on American 
ships would injure the country that had lately won 
its independence. So the United States made the 
best terms it could with the rulers of Algiers, 
Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli, and paid heavy ransoms 
for the release of the captives. There was little self- 
respect or honor among the Moorish chiefs, how- 
ever. One Dey succeeded another, each more 
greedy than the last, and each demanded more 
tribute money or threatened to seize all the Ameri- 
cans he could lay hands upon. The consuls had 
to be constantly making presents in order to keep 
the Moors in a good humor, and whenever the Dey 
felt the need of more money he would demand it of 
the United States consul, and threaten to throw him 
in prison if he refused. 

This state of affairs was very unpleasant for free 
men, but for a number of years it had to be put up 
with. When Captain Bainbridge dropped anchor off 
Algiers in command of the United States frigate 
George IVashingtojt, the Dey demanded that he 
should carry a Moorish envoy to Constantinople 
with presents for the Sultan of Turkey. Bainbridge 
did not like to be treated as a messenger boy ; but 
the Dey said, " You pay me tribute, by which you 
become my slaves. I have, therefore, a right to 



84 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

order you as I may think proper." Bainbridge had 
no choice but to obey the command, or leave Ameri- 
can merchant vessels at the mercy of the Moors, and 
so he carried the Dey's presents to the Sultan. 

As all the Barbary States throve on war, in that 
way gaining support from the enemies of the coun- 
try they attacked, one or the other was constantly 
making war. In May, 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli de- 
clared war against the United States, cut down the 
American flagstafi at his capital, and sent out his 
pirate ships. In reply the United States ordered a 
squadron of four vessels under command of Com- 
modore Richard Dale to sail to the Mediterranean. 
This squadron did good service, capturing a number 
of the galleys of Tripoli, and exchanging Moorish 
prisoners for American slaves. But the pirates were 
like a swarm of hornets ; they stung wherever they 
got a chance, and as soon as the war-ships were out 
of sight they would steal out from their hiding-places 
to terrorize the coast. The United States had to 
keep sending squadrons to act as policemen. When 
the fleet kept together the Moors had proper respect 
for them, but once the ships separated they became 
the target for the hornets. 

The frigate Philadelphia, of thirty-six guns, was 
detailed in October, 1803, to blockade the port of 
Tripoli. The morning after she reached there she 
saw a ship inshore preparing to sail westward. The 
frigate gave chase, and as the other vessel carried 
the colors of Tripoli, the frigate opened fire. As she 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 85 

chased the Moor the Philadelphia ran on a shelving 
rock that was part of a long reef. Her crew worked 
hard to get her off, but she stuck fast. As the Moors 
on shore saw the pHght of the Philadelphia they 
manned their boats, and soon she was surrounded 
by a swarm of pirate galleys. The galleys sailed 
under the fire of the frigate's heavy guns, and came 
up to close quarters, where the cannon could not 
reach them. The Americans were helpless, and by 
sunset Commodore Bainbridge had to strike his flag. 
As soon as he surrendered the Moors swarmed over 
the sides of his ship, broke everything they could 
lay their hands on, stripped officers and men of their 
uniforms, and tumbled them into the small boats. 
The prisoners were landed at night, and led to the 
castle gate. The sailors were treated as slaves, but 
the officers were received by the Pasha in the great 
marble-paved hall of his palace, where that ruler, 
dressed in silks and jewels, and surrounded by a 
gorgeous court, asked them many questions, and 
later offered them supper. But the favor of the 
Pasha was as fickle as the wind ; within a day or two 
he was treating the American officers much as he 
treated his other Christian captives, and the crew, 
three hundred and seven in number, were worked as 
slaves. Meantime the Moors, using anchors and 
cables, succeeded in pulling the Philadelphia off the 
reef, and the frigate was pumped out and made sea- 
worthy. She was brought into the harbor, to the 
delight of the Pasha and his people at owning so 



86 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

fine a war-ship. The loss of the PJiiladeiphia was a 
severe blow, not only to American pride, but to 
American fortunes. The squadron was now much 
too small for service, and Bainbridge and his crew 
were hostages the United States must redeem. 

It fell to the lot of Commodore Preble to take 
charge of the American ships in the Mediterranean, 
and he began to discuss terms of peace with Tripoli 
through an agent of the Pasha at Malta. By these 
terms the frigate Philadelphia was to be exchanged 
for a schooner, and the Moorish prisoners in Preble's 
hands, sixty in number, were to be exchanged for as 
many of the American prisoners in Tripoli, and the 
rest of the American captives were to be ransomed 
at five hundred dollars a man. Before these terms 
were agreed upon, however, a more daring plan oc- 
curred to the American commodore, and on Febru- 
ary 3, 1804, he entrusted a delicate task to Stephen 
Decatur, who commanded the schooner Enterprise. 
Decatur picked a volunteer crew, put them on board 
the ships Sireti and Intrepid, and sailed for Tripoli. 
They reached that port on February 7th, and to 
avoid suspicion the Intrepid drew away from the 
other ship and anchored after dark about a mile 
west of the town. A small boat with a pilot and 
midshipman was sent in to reconnoiter the harbor. 
They reported that the sea was breaking across the 
western entrance, and as the weather was threaten- 
ing advised Decatur not to try to enter that night. 
The two American ships therefore stood offshore. 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 87 

and were driven far to the east by a gale. The 
weather was so bad that it was not until February 
1 6th that they returned to Tripoli. This time the 
Intrepid sailed slowly toward the town, while the 
Siren, disguised as a merchantman, kept some dis- 
tance in the rear. 

The frigate Philadelphia, now the Pasha's prize 
ship, lay at anchor in the harbor, and the Intrepid 
slowly drifted toward her in the light of the new 
moon. No one on ship or shore realized the real 
purpose of the slowly-moving Intrepid. Had the 
men at the forts on shore or the watchman at the 
Pasha's castle suspected her purpose they could have 
blown her from the water with their heavy guns. 

The Intrepid drifted closer and closer, with her 
crew hidden, except for six or eight men dressed as 
Maltese sailors. Decatur stood by the pilot at the 
helm. When the little ship was about one hundred 
yards from the Philadelphia she was hailed and or- 
dered to keep away. The pilot answered that his 
boat had lost her anchor in the storm, and asked 
permission to make fast to the frigate for the night. 
This was given, and the Moorish officer on the 
Philadelphia asked what the ship in the distance was. 
The pilot said that she was the Transfer, a vessel 
lately purchased at Malta by the Moors, which was 
expected at Tripoli about that time. The pilot kept 
on talking in order to lull the Moors' suspicions, and 
meantime the little Intrepid came close under the 
port bow of the Philadelphia. Just then the wind 



88 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

shifted and held the schooner away from the frigate, 
and directly in range of her guns. Again the Moors 
had a chance to destroy the American boat and crew 
if they had known her real object. They did not 
suspect it, however. Each ship sent out a small 
boat with a rope, and when the ropes were joined 
the two ships were drawn close together. 

When the vessels were almost touching some one 
on the Philadelphia suddenly shouted, " Ameri- 
canos 1 " At the same moment Decatur gave the 
order "Board!" and the American crew sprang 
over the side of the frigate and jumped to her deck. 
The Moors were huddled on the forecastle. Decatur 
formed his men in line and charged. The surprised 
Moors made little resistance, and Decatur quickly 
cleared the deck of them ; some jumped into the 
sea, and others escaped in a large boat. The Ameri- 
cans saw that they could not get the Philadel- 
phia safely out of the harbor, and so quickly brought 
combustibles from the Intrepid, and stowing them 
about the Philadelphia, set her on fire. In a very 
few minutes she was in flames, and the Americans 
jumped from her deck to their own ship. It took 
less than twenty minutes to capture and fire the 
Philadelphia. 

Decatur ordered his men to the oars, and the 
Intrepid beat a retreat from the harbor. But now 
the town of Tripoli was fully aroused. The forts 
opened fire on the litde schooner. A ship com- 
manded the channel through which she had to sail. 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 89 

but fortunately for the Intrepid the Moors' aim was 
poor, and the only shot that struck her was one 
through the topgallantsail. The harbor was 
brightly lighted now. The flames had run up the 
mast and rigging of the Philadelphia, and as they 
reached the powder loud explosions echoed over the 
sea. Presendy the cables of the frigate burned, and 
the PhUadelphia drifted ashore and blew up. In the 
meantime the Intrepid reached the entrance safely, 
and joining the Siren set sail for Syracuse. 

The blowing up of the Philadelphia was one 
of the most daring acts ever attempted by the 
United States Navy, and won Decatur great credit. 
It weakened the Pasha's strength, and kept his 
pirate crews in check. Instead of making terms 
with the Moorish ruler, the United States decided 
to attack his capital, and in the summer of 1804, 
Commodore Preble collected his squadron before 
Tripoli. On August 3d the fleet approached the 
land batteries, and in the afternoon began to throw 
shells into the town. The Moors immediately opened 
fire, both from the forts and from their fleet of 
nineteen gunboats and two galleys that lay in the 
harbor. Preble divided his ships, and ordered them 
to close in on the enemy's vessels, although the 
latter outnumbered them three to one. Again 
Decatur was the hero of the fight. He and his 
men boarded a Moorish gunboat and fought her 
crew hand-to-hand across the decks. He captured 
the first vessel, and then boarded a second. De- 



90 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

catur singled out the captain, a gigantic Moor, and 
made for him. The Moor thrust at him with a pike, 
and Decatur's cutlass was broken off at the hilt. 
Another thrust of the pike cut his arm, but the 
American seized the weapon, tore it away, and 
threw himself on the Moor. The crews were fight- 
ing all around their leaders, and a Moorish sailor 
aimed a blow at Decatur's head with a scimitar. 
An American seaman struck the blow aside, and the 
scimitar gashed his own scalp. The Moorish captain, 
stronger than Decatur, got him underneath, and 
drawing a knife, was about to kill him, when De- 
catur caught the Moor's arm with one hand, thrust 
his other hand into his pocket, and fired his re- 
volver. The Moor was killed, and Decatur sprang 
to his feet. Soon after the enemy's crew surren- 
dered. The other United States ships had been 
almost as successful, and the batde taught the 
Americans that the Barbary pirates could be beaten 
in hand-to-hand fighting as well as at long range. 

The Pasha was not ready to come to terms even 
after that day's defeat, however, and on August 7th 
Commodore Preble ordered another attack. Again 
the harbor shook under the guns of the fleet and 
the forts, and at sunset Preble had to withdraw. To 
avoid further bloodshed the commodore sent a flag 
of truce to the Pasha, and offered to pay eighty 
thousand dollars for the ransom of the American 
prisoners, and to make him a present of ten thousand 
dollars more. The Pasha, however, demanded one 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 91 

hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and Preble was 
not wiUing to pay that amount. So later in August 
he attacked Tripoli again. Each of these bombard- 
ments did great damage to the city, but the forts 
were too strong to be captured. The blockading 
fleet, however, held its position, and on September 
3d opened fire again in the last of its assaults. 
In spite of the heavy firing the Pasha refused to 
pull down his flag. 

On the night of September 4th a volunteer crew 
took the little Intrepid into the harbor. She was 
filled with combustibles, and when she was close to 
the Moorish ships the powder was to be fired by a 
fuse that would give time for the crew to escape in a 
small boat. The night was dark, and the fleet soon 
lost sight of this fire-ship. She took the right 
course through the channel, but before she was 
near the Moors she was seen and they opened fire 
on her. Then came a loud explosion, and the 
Intrepid, with her crew, was blown into the air. 
No one knows whether one of the enemy's shots or 
her own crew fired the powder. This was the great- 
est disaster that befell the United States Navy during 
all its warfare with the Barbary pirates. Soon after 
Commodore Preble sailed for home, though most of 
his fleet were kept in the Mediterranean to protect 
American sailing vessels. 

The government at Washington, tired with the 
long warfare in the Mediterranean, soon afterward 
ordered the consul at Algiers, Tobias Lear, to treat 



92 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

for peace with the Pasha. A bargain was finally 
struck. One hundred Moors were exchanged for as 
many of the American captives, and sixty thousand 
dollars were paid as ransom for the rest. June 4, 
1805, the American sailors, who had been slaves 
for more than nineteen months, were released from 
their chains and sent on board the war-ship Co?i- 
stitiUioii. The Pasha declared himself a friend of the 
United States, and saluted its flag with twenty-one 
guns from his castle and forts. 

In the Barbary States rulers followed one another 
in rapid succession. He who was Dey or Pasha one 
week might be murdered by an enemy the next, and 
that enemy on mounting the throne was always 
eager to get as much plunder as he could. Treaties 
meant little to any of them, and so other countries 
kept on paying them tribute for the sake of peace. 

The United States fell into the habit of buying 
peace with Algiers, Tripoli, Morocco, and Tunis by 
gifts of merchandise or gold or costly vessels. But 
the more that was given to them the more greedy 
these Moorish rulers grew, and so it happened that 
from time to time they sent out their pirates to board 
American ships in order to frighten the young Re- 
public into paying heavier tribute. Seven years 
later the second chapter of our history with the Bar- 
bary pirates opened. 

II 

The brig Edwin of Salem, Massachusetts, was 
sailing under full canvas through the Mediterranean 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 93 

Sea, bound out from Malta to Gibraltar, on August 25, 
18 1 2. At her masthead she flew the Stars and Stripes. 
The weather was favoring, the Utde brig making 
good speed, and the Mediterranean offered no dan- 
gers to the skipper. Yet Captain George Smith, 
and his crew of ten Yankee sailors, kept constantly 
looking toward the south at some distant sails that 
had been steadily gaining on them since dawn. 
Every stitch of sail on the Edwin had been set, but 
she was being overhauled, and at this rate would be 
caught long before she could reach Gibraltar. 

Captain Smith and his men knew who manned 
those long, low, rakish-looking frigates. But the 
Edwin carried no cannon, and if they could not out- 
sail the three ships to the south they must yield 
peaceably, or be shot down on their deck. Hour af- 
ter hour they watched, and by sunset they could see 
the dark, swarthy faces of the leading frigate's crew. 
Before night the Edwin had been overhauled, 
.boarded, and the Yankee captain and sailors were in 
irons, prisoners about to be sold into slavery. 

They had been captured by one of the pirate crews 
of the Dey of Algiers, and when they were taken 
ashore by these buccaneers they were stood up in 
the slave market and sold to Moors, or put to work 
in the shipyards. Other Yankee crews had met 
with the same treatment. 

Now the United States had been paying its tribute 
regularly to the pirates, but in the spring of 1812 the 
Dey of Algiers suddenly woke up to the fact that the 



94 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Americans had been measuring time by the sun 
while the Moors figured it by the moon, and found 
that in consequence he had been defrauded of almost 
a half-year's tribute money, or twenty-seven thousand 
dollars. He sent an indignant message to To- 
bias Lear, the American consul at Algiers, threaten- 
ing all sorts of punishments, and Mr. Lear, taking 
all things into account, decided it was best to pay the 
sum claimed by the Dey. The United States sent 
the extra tribute in the shape of merchandise by the 
sailing vessel Alleghany ; but the Dey was now in a 
very bad temper, and declared that the stores were 
of poor quality, and ordered the consul to leave at 
once in the Alleghany, as he would have no further 
dealings with a country that tried to cheat him. At 
almost the same time he received a present from 
England of two large ships filled with stores of war, 
— powder, shot, anchors, and cables. He immedi- 
ately sent out word to the buccaneers to capture all 
the American ships they could, and sell the sailors 
in the slave-markets. The Dey of Algiers appeared 
to have no fear of the United States. 

The truth of the matter was that his Highness 
the Dey, and also the Bey of Tunis, had been spoiled 
by England, who at this time told them confidently 
that the United States Navy was about to be wiped 
from the seas. English merchants assured them 
that they could treat Captain Smith and other 
Yankee skippers exactly as they pleased, since Great 
Britain had declared war on the United States, and 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 95 

the latter country would find herself quite busy at 
home. Algiers and Tripoli and Tunis, remembering 
their old grudge against the Americans, assured 
their English friends that nothing would delight 
them so much as to rid the Mediterranean of the 
Stars and Stripes. 

The pirates swept down on the brig Edwin, and 
laid hands on every American they could find in the 
neighborhood. They stopped and boarded a ship 
flying the Spanish flag, and took prisoner a Mr. 
Pollard, of Virginia. Tripoli and Tunis permitted 
English cruisers to enter their harbors, contrary to 
the rules of war, and recapture four English prizes 
that had been sent to them by the American priva- 
teer Abellino. When the United States offered to 
pay a ransom of three thousand dollars for every 
American who was held as a prisoner the Dey re- 
plied that he meant to capture a large number of 
them before he would consider any terms of sale. 

Our country was young and poor, and our navy 
consisted of only seventeen seaworthy ships, carry- 
ing less than four hundred and fifty cannon. Eng- 
land was indeed " Mistress of the Seas," with a 
great war-fleet of a thousand vessels, armed with 
almost twenty-eight thousand guns. No wonder 
that the British consul at Algiers had told the Dey 
" the American flag would be swept from the seas, 
the contemptible navy of the United States annihi- 
lated, and its maritime arsenals reduced to a heap of 
ruins." No wonder the Dey believed him. But as 



96 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

a matter of fact the little David outfought the giant 
Goliath ; on the Great Lakes and on the high seas 
the Stars and Stripes waved triumphant after many 
a long and desperate encounter, and the small navy 
came out of the War of 1812 with a glorious record 
of victories, with splendid officers and crews, and 
with sixty-four ships. The English friends of the 
Barbary States had been mistaken, and Algiers, 
Tunis, and Tripoli began to wish they had not been 
so scornful of the Yankees. 

It was time to show the pirates that Americans 
had as much right to trade in the Mediterranean as 
other people. On February 23, 18 15, a few days 
after the treaty of peace with England was pub- 
lished, President Madison advised that we should 
send a fleet to Algiers. Two squadrons were or- 
dered on this service, under command of Commodore 
William Bainbridge. One collected at Boston, and 
the other at New York. Commodore Stephen De- 
catur was in charge of the latter division. 

Decatur's squadron was the first to sail, leaving 
New York on May 20, 1815. He had ten vessels in 
all, his flag-ship being the forty-four-gun frigate 
Guerri^re, and his officers and crew being all sea- 
soned veterans of the war with England. The fleet 
of the Dey of Algiers, however, was no mean foe. 
It consisted of twelve vessels, well armed and 
manned, six sloops, five frigates, and one schooner. 
Its admiral was a very remarkable man, one of the 
fierce tribe of Kabyles from the mountains, Reis 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 97 

Hammida by name, who had made himself the 
scourge of the Mediterranean. He had plenty of 
reckless courage ; once he had boarded and cap- 
tured in broad daylight a Portuguese frigate under 
the very cliffs of Gibraltar, and at another time, 
being in command of three Algerine frigates, had 
dared to attack a Portuguese ship of the line and 
three frigates, in face of the guns leveled at him 
from the Rock of Lisbon, directly opposite. 

The city of Algiers itself was one of the best 
fortified ports on the Mediterranean. It lay in the 
form of a triangle, one side extending along the sea, 
while the other two rose against a hill, meeting at 
the top at the Casbah, the historic fortress of the 
Deys. The city was guarded by very thick walls, 
mounted with many guns, and the harbor, made by 
a long mole, was commanded by heavy batteries, so 
that at least five hundred pieces of cannon could be 
brought to bear on any hostile ships trying to enter. 

Decatur's fleet was only a few days out of New 
York when it ran into a heavy gale, and the wooden 
ships were badly tossed about. The Firefly, a 
twelve-gun brig, sprung her masts, and had to put 
back to port. The other ships rode out the storm, 
and kept on their course to the Azores, keeping a 
sharp watch for any suspicious-looking craft. As 
they neared the coast of Portugal the vigilance was 
redoubled, for here was a favorite hunting-ground 
of Reis Hammida, and Decatur knew what the 
Algerine admiral had done before the Rock of Lis- 



98 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

bon. They found no trace of the enemy here, how- 
ever. At Cadiz Decatur sent a messenger to the 
American consul, who informed him that three Al- 
gerine frigates and some smaller ships had been 
spoken in the Atlantic Ocean, but were thought to 
have returned to the Mediterranean. 

Decatur wanted to take the enemy by surprise, 
and so sailed cautiously to Tangier, where he learned 
that two days earlier Reis Hammida had gone 
through the Straits of Gibraltar in the forty-six-gun 
frigate Mashuda. The American captain at once 
set sail for Gibraltar, and found out there that the 
wily Algerine was lying off Cape Gata, having de- 
manded that Spain should pay him half a million 
dollars of tribute money to protect her coast-towns 
from attack by his fleet. 

Lookouts on the Guerriere reported to Decatur 
that a despatch-boat had left Gibraltar as soon as 
the American ships appeared, and inquiry led the 
captain to believe the boat was bearing messages to 
Reis Hammida. Other boats were sailing for Al- 
giers, and Decatur, realizing the ease with which his 
wily opponent, thoroughly familiar with the inland 
sea, would be able to elude him, decided to give 
chase at once. 

The fleet headed up the Mediterranean June 15th, 
under full sail. The next evening ships were seen 
near shore, and Decatur ordered the frigate Mace- 
donian and two brigs to overhaul them. Early the 
following morning, when the fleet was about twenty 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 99 

miles out from Cape Gata, Captain Gordon, of the 
frigate Consiellaiion, sighted a big vessel flying the 
flag of Algiers, and signaled " An enemy to the 
southeast." 

Decatur saw that the strange ship had a good 
start of his fleet, and was within thirty hours' run of 
Algiers. He suspected that her captain might not 
have detected the fleet as American, and ordered 
the Constellation back to her position abeam of his 
flag-ship, gave directions to try to conceal the identity 
of his squadron, and stole up on the stranger. The 
latter was seen to be a frigate, lying to under small 
sail, as if waiting for some message from the African 
shore near at hand. One of the commanders asked 
permission to give chase, but Decatur signaled back 
" Do nothing to excite suspicion." 

The Moorish frigate held her position near shore 
while the American ships drew closer. When they 
were about a mile distant a quartermaster on the 
Constellation, by mistake, hoisted a United States 
flag. To cover this blunder the other ships were 
immediately ordered to fly English flags. But the 
crew of the Moorish frigate had seen the flag on the 
Constellation, and instantly swarmed out on the 
yard-arms, and had the sails set for flight. They 
were splendid seamen, and almost immediately the 
frigate was leaping under all her canvas for Algiers. 
The Americans were busy too. The rigging of each 
ship was filled with sailors, working out on the yards, 
the decks rang with commands, and messages were 



lOO HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

signaled from the flag-ship to the captains. Decatur 
crowded on all sail, fearing that the Algerine frigate 
might escape him in the night or seek refuge in 
some friendly harbor, and the American squadron 
raced along at top speed, just as the Barbary pirates 
had earlier chased after the little brig Edzvin, of Salem. 

Soon the Cotistellatioiiy which was to the south of 
the fleet and so nearest to the Moorish frigate, 
opened fire and sent several shots on board the 
enemy. The latter immediately came about, and 
headed northeast, as if making for the port of Car- 
thagena. The Americans also tacked, and gained 
by this manoeuvre, the sloop Ontario cutting across 
the Moor's course, and the Guerriere being brought 
close enough for musketry fire. 

As the flag-ship came to close quarters the Moors 
opened fire, wounding several men, but Decatur 
waited until his ship cleared the enemy's yard-arms, 
when he ordered a broadside. The crew of the 
Algerine frigate, which was the Mashuda, were 
mowed down by this heavy fire. Reis Hammida 
himself had already been wounded by one of the 
first shots from the Constellation. He had, however, 
insisted on continuing to give orders from a couch 
on the quarter-deck, but a shot from the first broad- 
side killed him. The Gnerriere' s gun crews loaded 
and fired again before the first smoke had cleared ; 
at this second broadside one of her largest guns ex- 
ploded, killing three men, wounding seventeen, and 
splintering the spar-deck. 



THE BARBARY PIRATES loi 

The Moors made no sign of surrender, but De- 
catur, seeing that there were too few left to fight, 
and not wishing to pour another broadside into 
them, sailed past, and took a position just out of 
range. The Algerines immediately tried to run be- 
fore him. In doing this the big Mashuda was 
brought directly against the little eighteen-gun 
American brig Epervier, commanded by John 
Downes. Instead of sailing away Downes placed 
his brig under the Moor's cabin ports, and by back- 
ing and filling escaped colliding with the frigate 
while he fired his small broadsides at her. This run- 
ning fire, lasting for twenty-five minutes, finished 
the Moor's resistance, and the frigate surrendered. 

The flag-ship, the Gtierri^re, now took charge of 
the Algerine prize, and Decatur sent an officer, two 
midshipmen, and a crew on board her. The Mashuda 
was a sorry sight, many of her men killed or wounded, 
and her decks splintered by the American broadsides. 
The prisoners were transferred to the other ships, 
and orders were given to the prize-crew to take the 
captured frigate to the port of Carthagena, under 
escort of the Macedonian. 

Before this was done, however, Decatur signaled 
all the officers to meet on his flag-ship. In the cabin 
they found a table covered with captured Moorish 
weapons, — daggers, pistols, scimitars, and yataghans. 
Decatur turned to Commandant Downes, who had 
handled the small Epervier so skilfully. " As you 
were fortunate in obtaining a favorable position and 



102 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

maintained it so handsomely, you shall have the first 
choice of these weapons," he said. Downes chose, 
and then each of the other officers selected a trophy 
of the victory. That evening the squadron, leaving 
the Mashuda in charge of the Macedoniaiiy resumed 
its hunt for other ships belonging to the navy of the 
piratical Dey. 

The fleet was arriving off Cape Palos on June 19th 
when a brig was seen, looking suspiciously like an 
Algerine craft. When the Americans set sail toward 
her, the stranger ran away. Soon she came to shoal 
water, and the frigates had to leave the chase to the 
light-draught Epervier, Spark, Torch, and Spitfire. 
These followed and opened fire. The strange brig 
returned several shots, and was then run aground 
by her crew on the coast between the watch-towers 
of Estacio and Albufera, which had been built long 
before for the purpose of protecting fishermen and 
peasants from the raids of pirates. The strangers 
took to their small boats. One of these was sunk 
by a shot. The Americans then boarded the ship, 
which was the Algerine twenty-two-gun \ys:\<g Estedio, 
and captured eighty-three prisoners. The brig was 
floated off the shoals and sent with a prize-crew into 
the Spanish port of Carthagena. 

Decatur, being unable to sight any more ships 
that looked like Moorish craft, and supposing that 
the rest of the pirate fleet would probably be mak- 
ing for Algiers, gave commands to his squadron to 
sail for that port. He was determined to bring the 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 103 

Dey to terms as quickly as possible, and to destroy 
his fleet, or bombard the city, if that was necessary. 
When he arrived off the Moorish town, however, he 
found none of the fleet there, and no apparent prepa- 
ration for war in the harbor. The next morning he 
ran up the Swedish flag at the mainmast, and a 
white flag at the foremast, a signal asking the Swe- 
dish consul to come on board the flag-ship. Mr. 
Norderling, the consul, came out to the Guerriere, 
accompanied by the Algerine captain of the port. 
After some conversation Decatur asked the latter 
for news of the Dey's fleet. " By this time it is safe 
in some neutral port," was the assured answer. 

" Not all of it," said Decatur, " for we have cap- 
tured the Mashiida and the EstedioP 

The Algerine could not believe this, and told the 
American so. Then Decatur sent for a wounded 
lieutenant of the Mashiida, who was on his ship, and 
bade him confirm the statement. The Moorish 
officer of the port immediately changed his tactics, 
dropped his haughty attitude, and gave Decatur to 
understand that he thought the Dey would be will- 
ing to make a new treaty of peace with the United 
States. 

Decatur handed the Moor a letter from the Presi- 
dent to the Dey, which stated that the Republic 
would only agree to peace provided Algiers would 
give up her claim to tribute and would cease molest- 
ing American merchantmen. 

The Moor wanted to gain as much time as pos- 



104 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

sible, hoping his fleet would arrive, and said that it 
was the custom to discuss all treaties in the palace on 
shore. Decatur understood the slow and crafty 
methods of these people, and answered that the 
treaty should be drawn up and signed on board the 
Guerriere or not at all. Seeing that there was no 
use in arguing with the American the Moorish officer 
went ashore to consult with the Dey. 

Next day, June 30th, the captain of the port re- 
turned, with power to act for his Highness Omar 
Pasha. Decatur told him that he meant to put an 
end to these piratical attacks on Americans, and in- 
sisted that all his countrymen who were being held 
as slaves in Algiers should be given up, that the 
value of goods taken from them should be paid them, 
that the Dey should give the owners of the brig 
Edwin of Salem ten thousand dollars, that all Chris- 
tians who escaped from Algiers to American ships 
should be free, and that the two nations should act 
toward each other exactly as other civilized countries 
did. Then the Moorish officer began to explain and 
argue. He said that it was not the present ruling Dey, 
Omar Pasha, called "Omar the Terrible" because 
of his great courage, who had attacked American 
ships; it was Hadji Ali, who was called the "Tiger" 
because of his cruelty, but he had been assassinated 
in March, and his prime minister, who succeeded 
him, had been killed the following month, and Omar 
Pasha was a friend of the United States. Decatur 
replied that his terms for peace could not be altered. 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 105 

The Moor then asked for a truce while he should 
go ashore and confer with the Dey. Decatur said he 
would grant no truce. The Algerine besought him 
to make no attack for three hours. " Not a minute ! " 
answered Decatur. " If your squadron appears be- 
fore the treaty is actually signed by the Dey, and 
before the American prisoners are sent aboard, I will 
capture it ! " 

The Moorish captain said he would hurry at once 
to the Dey, and added that if the Americans should 
see his boat heading out to the Guerriere with a white 
flag in the bow they would know that Omar Pasha 
had agreed to Decatur's terms. 

An hour later the Americans sighted an Algerine 
war-ship coming from the east. Decatur signaled his 
fleet to clear for action, and gave orders to his own 
men on the Guerriere. The fleet had hardly weighed 
anchor, however, before the small boat of the port 
captain was seen dashing out from shore, a white 
flag in the bow. The excited Moor waved to the 
crew of the flag-ship. As soon as the boat was near 
enough Decatur asked if the Dey had signed the 
treaty, and set the American captives free. The 
captain assured him of this, and a few minutes later 
his boat was alongside the flag-ship, and the Ameri- 
cans, who had been seized and held by the pirates, 
were given over to their countrymen. Some of them 
had been slaves for several years, and their delight 
knew no bounds. 

In so short a time did Decatur succeed in bringing 



io6 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the Dey to better terms than he had made with any 
other country. When the treaty had been signed the 
Dey's prime minister said to the English consul, 
with reproach in his voice, " You told us that the 
Americans would be swept from the seas in six 
months by your navy, and now they make war upon 
us with some of your own vessels which they have 
taken." As a fact three of the ships in Decatur's 
squadron had actually been won from the English in 
the War of 1812. 

The Epervier, commanded by Lieutenant John 
Templer Shubrick, was now ordered to return to the 
United States, with some of the Americans rescued 
from Algiers. The fate of the brig is one of the 
mysteries of the sea. She sailed through the Straits 
of Gibraltar July 12, 1815, and was never heard of 
again. She is supposed to have been lost in a heavy 
storm in which a number of English merchantmen 
foundered near the West Indies. 

Algiers had now been brought to her knees by 
Decatur, and he was free to turn to Tunis and 
Tripoli. The rulers of each of these countries had 
been misled by the English agents exactly as had the 
Dey of Algiers, and the Bey of Tunis had allowed 
the British cruiser Lyra to recapture some English 
prizes that the American privateer Abellino had 
taken into harbor during the War of 18 12. Like 
Algiers, both Tunis and Tripoli were well protected 
by fleets and imposing forts. Decatur, however, had 
now learned that downright and prompt measures 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 107 

were the ones most successful in dealing with the 
Moors, who were used to long delays and arguments. 
He anchored off Tunis on July 26th, and immediately 
sent word to the Bey that the latter must pay the 
United States forty-six thousand dollars for allowing 
the English Lyra to seize the American prizes, and 
that the money must be paid within twelve hours. 

The United States consul, Mordecai M. Noah, 
carried Decatur's message to the Bey. The Moorish 
ruler was seated on a pile of cushions at a window of 
his palace, combing his long, flowing black beard 
with a tortoise-shell comb set with diamonds. Mr. 
Noah politely stated Decatur's terms. 

*• Tell your admiral to come and see me," said the 
Bey. 

•' He declines coming, your Highness," answered 
the consul, *' until these disputes are settled, which 
are best done on board the ship." 

The Bey frowned. " But this is not treating me 
with becoming dignity. Hammuda Pasha, of blessed 
memory, commanded them to land and wait at the 
palace until he was pleased to receive them." 

"Very likely, your Highness," said Mr. Noah, 
'• but that was twenty years ago." 

The Bey considered. *' I know this admiral," he 
remarked at length ; " he is the same one who, in the 
war with Sidi Yusuf, burned the frigate." He re- 
ferred to Decatur's burning the Philadelphia in the 
earlier warfare. 

The consul nodded. " The same." 



io8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

" Hum ! " said the Bey. " Why do they send wild 
young men to treat for peace with old powers ? 
Then, you Americans do not speak the truth. You 
went to war with England, a nation with a great 
fleet, and said you took her frigates in equal fight. 
Honest people always speak the truth." 

" Well, sir, and that was true. Do you see that 
tall ship in the bay flying a blue flag ? " The con- 
sul pointed through the window. " It is the 
Gtierriere, taken from the British. That one near 
the small island, the Macedonian, was also captured 
by Decatur on equal terms. The sloop near Cape 
Carthage, the Peacock y was also taken in battle." 

The Bey, looking through his telescope, saw a 
small vessel leave the American fleet and approach 
the forts. A man appeared to be taking soundings. 
The Bey laid down the telescope. " I will accept 
the admiral's terms," said he, and resumed the 
combing of his beard. 

Later he received Decatur with a great show of 
respect. The American consul was also honored, 
but the British was not treated so well. When a 
brother of the prime minister paid the money over 
to Decatur the Moor turned to the Englishman, and 
said, •' You see, sir, what Tunis is obliged to pay for 
your insolence. You should feel ashamed of the 
disgrace you have brought upon us. I ask you if 
you think it just, first to violate our neutrality and 
then to leave us to be destroyed or pay for your 
aggressions ? " 



THE BARBARY PIRATES 109 

Having settled matters with Tunis, Decatur sailed 
for Tripoli, and there sent his demands to the Pasha. 
He asked thirty thousand dollars in payment for two 
American prizes of war that had been recaptured by 
the British cruiser Paulina^ a salute of thirty-one 
guns to be fired from the Pasha's palace in honor of 
the United States flag, and that the treaty of peace 
be signed on board the Guerriere. 

The Pasha pretended to be offended, summoned his 
twenty thousand Arab soldiers and manned his can- 
non ; but when he heard how Algiers and Tunis had 
already made peace with Decatur, and saw that the 
Americans were all prepared for battle, he changed 
his tactics and sent the governor of Tripoli to the 
flag-ship to treat for peace. The American consul 
told Decatur that twenty-five thousand dollars would 
make good the lost prize-ships, but that the Pasha 
was holding ten Christians as slaves in Tripoli. 
Decatur thereupon reduced the amount of his claim 
on condition that the slaves should be released. 
This was agreed to. The prisoners, two of whom 
were Danes, and the others Sicilians, were sent to 
the flag-ship, and by way of compliment the band of 
the Guerriere went ashore and played American airs 
to the delight of the people. 

The American captain now ordered the rest of 
his squadron to sail to Gibraltar, while the Guerriere 
landed the prisoners at Sicily. As the flag-ship 
came down the coast from Carthagena she met that 
part of the Algerine fleet that had put into Malta 



no HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

when the Americans first arrived in the Mediter- 
ranean. The Guerriere was alone, and Decatur 
thought that the Moors, finding him at such a dis- 
advantage, might break their treaty of peace, and 
attack him. He called his men to the quarter-deck. 
" My lads," said he, " those fellows are approaching 
us in a threatening manner. We have whipped 
them into a treaty, and if the treaty is to be broken 
let them break it. Be careful of yourselves. Let 
any man fire without orders at the peril of his life. 
But let them fire first if they will, and we'll take the 
whole of them ! " 

The decks were cleared, and every man stood 
ready for action. The fleet of seven Algerine ships 
sailed close to the single American frigate in line of 
battle. The crews looked across the bulwarks at 
each other, but not a word was said until the last 
Algerine ship was opposite. " Where are you go- 
ing ? " demanded the Moorish admiral. 

" Wherever it pleases me," answered Decatur ; 
and the Guerriere sailed on her course. 

Early in October there was a great gathering of 
American ships at Gibraltar. Captain Bainbridge's 
fleet, which included the seventy-four-gun ship of the 
line Independence, was there when Decatur arrived. 
The war between the United States and England 
was only recently ended, and the presence of so 
many ships of the young Republic at the English 
Rock of Gibraltar caused much talk among the 
Spaniards and other foreigners. The sight of ships 



THE BARBARY PIRATES in 

which had been English, but which were now 
American, added to the awkward situation, and 
more than one duel was fought on the Rock as the 
result of disputes over the War of 1812. 

The Dey of Algiers, left to his own advisers and 
to the whispers of men who were jealous of the 
United States' success, began to wish he had not 
agreed to the treaty he had made with Decatur. 
His own people told him that a true son of the 
Prophet should never have humbled himself before 
the Christian dogs. In addition the English gov- 
ernment agreed to pay him nearly four hundred 
thousand dollars to ransom twelve thousand prison- 
ers of Naples and Sardinia that he was holding. 
Before everything else the Dey was greedy. There- 
fore when Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of 
the battle of Lake Erie, brought out in i\\Q. Java a 
copy of the treaty after it had been ratified by the 
United States Senate, and it was presented to the 
Dey by the American consul, William Shaler, the 
ruler of Algiers pretended that the United States 
had changed the treaty, and complained of the way 
in which Decatur had dealt with the Algerine ships. 
Next day he refused to meet Mr. Shaler again, and 
sent the treaty back to him, saying that the Ameri- 
cans were unworthy of his confidence. Mr. Shaler 
hauled down the flag at his consulate, and boarded 
the Java. 

Fortunately there were five American ships near 
Algiers ; and these were made ready to open fire on 



112 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the Moorish vessels in the harbor. Plans were also 
made for a night attack. The small boats of the 
fleet were divided into two squadrons, to be filled by 
twelve hundred volunteer sailors. One division was 
to make for the water battery and try to spike its 
guns, while the other was to attack the batteries on 
shore. Scaling-ladders were ready, and the men 
were provided with boarding-spikes ; but shortly 
before they were to embark the captain of a French 
ship in the harbor got word of the plan and carried 
the information to the Dey. The latter was well 
frightened, and immediately sent word that he 
would do whatever his good friends from America 
wanted. The next day Mr. Shaler landed again, 
and the Dey signed the treaty. 

The fleet then called a second time on the Bey of 
Tunis, who had been grumbling about his dissatis- 
faction with Decatur's treatmento He too, however, 
was most friendly when American war-ships poked 
their noses toward his palace. After that the Barbary 
pirates let American merchantmen trade in peace, 
although an American squadron of four ships was 
kept in the Mediterranean to see that the Dey, and 
the Bey, and the Pasha did not forget, and go back 
to their old trickSo 

So it was that Decatur put an end to the African 
pirates, so far as the United States was concerned, 
and taught them that sailors of the young Republic, 
far away though it was, were not to be made slaves 
by greedy Moorish rulers. 



V 

THE FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING- 
PRESS 

Ever since the thirteen colonies that lay along the 
Atlantic coast had become a nation ambitious men 
had heard the call, " Go West, young man, go 
West I " There was plenty of fertile land in the 
country beyond the Alleghany Mountains, and it was 
free to any who would settle on it. Adventure 
beckoned men to come and help in founding new 
states, and many, who thought the villages of New 
England already overcrowded, betook themselves 
to the inviting West. One such youth was Elijah 
Parrish Lovejoy, who came from the little town of 
Albion, in Maine, and who, after graduating at 
Waterville College, had become a school-teacher. 
This did not satisfy him ; he wanted to see more of 
the world than lay in the village of his birth, and 
when he was twenty-five years old, in May, 1827, he 
set out westward. 

The young man was a true son of the Puritans, 
brought up to believe in many ideas that were al- 
ready often in conflict with the views of men of the 
South and West. He reached the small city of St. 
Louis, in the pioneer country of Missouri, and there 



114 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

he found a chance to teach school. He wrote for 
several newspapers that were being started, and in 
the course of the next year edited a political paper 
that was urging the election of Henry Clay as Pres- 
ident. His interest in politics grew, and he might 
have sought some pubhc office himself had he not 
suddenly become convinced that he was meant to be 
a minister, and determined to prepare for that work 
at Princeton Seminary. When he returned to St. 
Louis in 1833 his friends helped him to found a 
weekly religious paper called the SL Louis Observer. 

The editor found time from his newspaper work 
to ride into the country and preach at the small 
churches that were springing up at every crossroads. 
Missouri was more southern than northern, and he 
saw much of slave-owning people. It was not long 
before he decided that negro slavery was wrong, 
and that the only way to right the wrong was to do 
away with it altogether. He began to attack slavery 
in his newspaper and in his sermons, and soon sla- 
very men in that part of Missouri came to consider 
him as one of their most bitter foes. 

Lovejoy had married, and expected to make St. 
Louis his permanent home. But neither all the men 
who were interested in the Observer, nor all the 
members of his church, approved of his arguments 
against slaveholding, and when he was away at a 
religious meeting the proprietors of his paper issued 
a statement promising that the editor would deal 
more gently with the question of slavery in the 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 115 

future. When Lovejoy returned and read this state- 
ment he was indignant ; he was not a man to fear 
public opinion, and he attacked his enemies more 
ardently than ever. 

The law of the land permitted slavery, and many 
of the chief citizens in the frontier country approved 
of it. They hated the Abolitionists, as those who 
wanted to do away with slavery were called. When 
men were suspected of having helped to free slaves, 
or of sheltering runaway negroes, they were taken 
into the country and given two hundred lashes with 
a whip as a lesson. Sometimes Abolitionists were 
tarred and feathered and ridden out of town ; often 
their houses were burned and their property des- 
troyed. Lovejoy knew that he might have to face 
all this, but the spirit of the Puritan stock from 
which he sprang would not let him turn from his 
course. 

He went on printing articles against the evils of 
slavery, he denounced the right of a white man to 
separate colored husbands and wives, parents and 
children, brothers and sisters, or to send his slaves 
to the market to be sold to the highest bidder, or to 
whip or ill-use them as if they had no feelings. 

There was danger that the young editor would be 
mobbed, and the owners of the Observer took the 
paper out of his charge. Friends, however, who be- 
lieved in a free press, bought it, and gave it back to 
him. Waves of public opinion, now for Lovejoy, 
now against him, swept through St. Louis. By the 



ii6 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

end of 1835 mobs had attacked Abolitionists in Bos- 
ton, New York, and Philadelphia, and the news 
fanned the flames of resentment against them in Mis- 
souri. 

Lovejoy had good reason to know the danger of 
his position. One September day he went out to a 
camp-meeting at the little town of Potosi. He 
learned that two men had waited half a day in the 
village, planning to tar and feather him when he ar- 
rived, but he was late, and they had left. When he 
returned to St. Louis he found that handbills had 
been distributed through the city, calling on the peo- 
ple to tear down the office of the Observer. A 
newspaper named the Missouri Argus urged patriotic 
men to mob the New England editor. Crowds, 
gathered on street corners, turned dark, lowering 
looks upon him as he passed, and every mail brought 
him threatening letters. He would not, however, 
stop either writing or preaching against slavery. 

His work constantly called him on journeys to 
small towns, sometimes several days' ride from his 
home. Late in 1835 he was at a meeting in Marion 
when reports came that St. Louis was in an uproar, 
that men who opposed slavery were being whipped 
in the streets, and that no one suspected of being an 
Abolitionist would be allowed to stay there. Love- 
joy had left his wife ill in bed. He started to ride 
back, a friend going some seventy miles with him, 
half of the journey. The friend urged him not to 
stay in St. Louis, pointing out that his young and 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 117 

delicate wife would have to suffer as well as he. 
Travelers they met all warned him that he would not 
be safe in the city. He rode on to St. Charles, 
where he had left his wife. He talked with her, and 
she told him to go on to his newspaper office if he 
thought duty called him there. 

St. Louis was all excitement and alarm. The 
newspapers had attacked the Observer so bitterly 
that the owners had stopped printing it. A mob had 
planned to wreck the office, but had postponed the 
task for a few days. Men went to Lovejoy and told 
him he would not be safe in the streets by day or 
night. Even the men of his church would not stand 
by him, and a religious paper declared '* that they 
would soon free the church of the rotten sheep in 
it," by which they meant Elijah Lovejoy and others 
who opposed slavery. 

This Yankee, however, like many others who had 
gone to that border country in the days when bitter- 
ness ran high, had a heroic sense of duty. He wrote 
and printed a letter to the people, stating that men 
had no right to own their brothers, no matter what 
the law might say. The letter caused more excite- 
ment than ever. 

The owners of the Observer went to Lovejoy and 
requested him to retire as its editor. For two days 
it was a question what the angry mobs would do to 
him. Then a little better feeling set in. Men came 
to him, and told him that he must go on printing his 
paper or there would be no voice of freedom in all 



ii8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

that part of the country. A friend bought the news- 
paper from its owners, and urged Lovejoy to write 
as boldly as before. This friend, however, suggested 
that he should move the newspaper across the state 
line to Alton, Illinois, where feeling was not so in- 
tense. Lovejoy agreed, and set out for Alton ; but 
while he was preparing to issue the paper there the 
same friend and others wrote him that his pen was 
so much needed in St. Louis that he must come back. 
He did so, and the Observer continued its existence 
in St. Louis until June, 1836. 

There was so much strife and ill feeling, however, 
in Missouri that the editor decided his newspaper 
would be better supported, and would exert more in- 
fluence, in Illinois. Accordingly he arranged to 
move his printing-press to the town of Alton in July. 
Just before he left St. Louis he published severe 
criticisms of a judge of that city who had sided with 
slave-owners, and these articles roused even greater 
resentment among the rabble who hated Lovejoy's 
freedom of speech. 

If some of the people of Alton were glad to have 
this fearless editor come to their town, many were 
not. Slavery was too sore a subject for them to 
wish it talked about publicly. Many people all 
through that part of the country looked upon an 
Abolitionist as a man who delighted in stirring up 
ill feeling. Lovejoy sent his printing-press to Alton 
by steamboat, and it was delivered at the wharf on 
a Sunday morning, about daybreak. The steamboat 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 119 

company had agreed to land the press on Monday, 
and Lovejoy refused to move it from the dock on the 
Sabbath. Early Monday morning five or six men 
went down to the river bank and destroyed the 
printing-press. 

This was the young editor's welcome by the law- 
less element, but next day the better class of citizens, 
thoroughly ashamed of the outrage, met and pledged 
themselves to repay Lovejoy for the loss of his 
press. These people denounced the act of the mob, 
but at the same time they expressed their disapproval 
of Abolitionists. They wanted order and quiet, and 
hoped that Lovejoy would not stir up more trouble. 

The editor bought a new press and issued his 
first paper in Alton on September 8, 1836. Many 
people subscribed to it, and it appeared regularly 
until the following August. Lovejoy, however, 
would speak his mind, and again and again declared 
that he was absolutely opposed to slavery, and that 
the evil custom must come to an end. This led to 
murmurs from the slavery party, and slanders were 
spread concerning the editor's character. All free- 
dom-loving men had to weather such storms in those 
days, and Lovejoy, like a great many others, stuck 
to his principles at a heavy cost. 

The murmurs and slanders grew. On July 8, 
1837, posters announced that a meeting would be 
held at the Market House to protest against the 
articles in the Alton Observer. The meeting con- 
demned Lovejoy's writings and speeches, and voted 



I20 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

that Abolitionism must be suppressed in the town. 
This was the early thunder that heralded the ap- 
proach of a gathering storm. 

The Yankee editor showed no intention of giving 
up his stand against slavery, but preached and wrote 
against it at every opportunity. As a result threats 
of destroying the press of the Observer were heard on 
the streets of Alton, and newspapers in neighboring 
cities encouraged ill feeling against the editor. The 
Missouri Republic^ a paper printed in St. Louis, tried 
to convince the people of Alton that it was a public 
danger to have such men as Lovejoy in their midst, 
and condemned the Anti-Slavery Societies that were 
being formed in that part of the country. Two at- 
tempts were made to break into his printing-office 
during the early part of the summer, but each time 
the attackers were driven ofif by Lovejoy's friends. 

The editor went to a friend's house to perform a 
marriage ceremony on the evening of August 21, 
1837. His wife and little boy were ill at home, and 
on his return he stopped at an apothecary's to get 
some medicine for them. His house was about a 
half mile out of town. As he left the main street he 
met a crowd of men and boys. They did not recog- 
nize him at once, and he hurried past them ; but 
soon some began to suspect who he was, and 
shouted his name to the rest. Those in the rear 
urged the leaders to attack him, but those in front 
held back ; some began to throw sticks and stones at 
him, and one, armed with a club, pushed up to him, 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 121 

denouncing him for being an Abolitionist. At last a 
number linked arms and pushed past him, and then 
turning about in the road stopped him. There were 
cries of "Tar and feather him," "Ride him on a 
rail," and other threats. Lovejoy told them they 
might do as they pleased with him, but he had a re- 
quest to make ; his wife was ill, and he wanted some 
one to take the medicine to her without alarming 
her. One of the men volunteered to do this. Then 
the editor, standing at bay, argued with them. 
"You had better let me go home," he said ; "you 
have no right to detain me ; I have never injured 
you." There was more denouncing, jostling and 
shoving, but the leaders, after a short talk, allowed 
Lovejoy to go on toward his house. 

Meantime, however, another band had gone to the 
newspaper office between ten and eleven o'clock, and, 
seeing by the lights in the building that men were 
still at work there, had begun to throw stones at the 
windows. A crowd gathered to watch the attack. 
The mayor and some of the leading citizens hurried 
to the building, and argued with the ringleaders. A 
prominent merchant told them that if they would 
wait until the next morning he would break into the 
newspaper office with them, and help them take out 
the press and the other articles, stow them on a boat, 
put the editor on top, and send them all down the 
Mississippi River together. But the crowd did not 
want to wait. The stones began to strike some of 
Lovejoy's assistants inside the building, and they ran 



122 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

out by a rear door. As soon as the office was empty 
the leaders rushed in and broke the printing-press, 
type, and everything else in the building. Next 
morning the slavery men in Alton said that the Aboli- 
tionist had been silenced for the time, at least. They 
looked upon Lovejoy, and men of his kind, as a 
thorn in the flesh of their peaceful community. 

There were still a small number of " freedom-lov- 
ing" people in Alton, however, and these stood 
back of Elijah Lovejoy. Although two printing- 
presses had now been destroyed, these men called a 
meeting and decided that the Observer must con- 
tinue to be printed. Money was promised, and the 
editor prepared to set up his press for the third time. 
He issued a short note to the public, in which he 
said : *' I now appeal to you, and all the friends of 
law and order, to come to the rescue. If you will 
sustain me, by the help of God, the press shall be 
again established at this place, and shall be sustained, 
come what will. Let the experiment be fairly tried, 
whether the liberty of speech and of the press is to be 
enjoyed in Illinois or not." The money was raised, 
and the dauntless spokesman for freedom sent to 
Cincinnati for supplies for his new office. 

That autumn enemies scattered pamphlets accus- 
ing Lovejoy and other Abolitionists of various crimes 
against the country. Although few people believed 
them, the circulars increased the hostile feelings, and 
disturbed many of the editor's friends. Some of the 
latter began to doubt whether the Observer ought to 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 123 

continue its stirring articles. Some thought it should 
be only a religious paper. But Lovejoy answered 
that he felt it was his duty to speak out in protest 
against the great evil of slavery. He finally offered 
to resign, if the supporters of the paper thought it 
best for him to do so. They could not come to any 
decision, and so let him continue his course. 

The third printing-press arrived at Alton on Sep- 
tember 2ist, while Lovejoy was away attending a 
church meeting. The press was landed from the 
steamboat a little after sunset, and was protected by 
a number of friends of the Observer. It was carted 
to a large warehouse to be stored. As it passed 
through the street some men cried, " There goes the 
Abolition press ; stop it, stop it 1 " but no one tried to 
injure it. The mayor of Alton declared that the 
press should be protected, and placed a constable at 
the door of the warehouse, with orders to remain till 
a certain hour. As soon as this man left, ten or 
twelve others, with handkerchiefs tied over their faces 
as disguise, broke into the warehouse, rolled the 
press across the street to the river, broke it into 
pieces, and threw it into the Mississippi. The mayor 
arrived and protested, but the men paid no attention 
to him. 

Lovejoy's business had called him to the town of 
St. Charles, near St. Louis, and he preached there 
while his third press was being attacked. After his 
sermon in the evening he was sitting chatting with a 
clergyman and another friend when a young man 



124 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

came in, and slipped a note into his hand. The note 
read : 

" Mr. Lovejoy : 

" Be watchful as you come from church to- 
night. 

A Friend." 

Lovejoy showed the note to the two other men, 
and the clergyman invited him to stay at his house. 
The editor declined, however, and walked to his 
mother-in-law's residence with his two friends. No 
one stopped them, and when they came to the house 
Lovejoy and the clergyman went in, and sat down to 
chat in a room on the second floor. About ten 
o'clock they heard a knock on the door at the foot of 
the stairs. Mrs. Lovejoy's mother went to the door, 
and asked what was wanted. Voices answered, 
" We want to see Mr. Lovejoy ; is he in ? " The 
editor called down, " Yes, I am here." As soon as 
the door was opened, two men rushed up-stairs, and 
into the sitting-room. They ordered Lovejoy to go 
down-stairs, and when he resisted, struck him with 
their fists. Mrs Lovejoy heard the noise, and came 
running from her room. A crowd now filled the 
hall, and she had to fight her way through them. 
Several men tried to drag the editor out of the 
house, but his wife clung to him, and aided by her 
mother and sister finally persuaded the assailants to 
leave. 

Exhausted by the struggle, Mrs. Lovejoy fainted. 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 125 

While her husband was trying to help her, the mob 
came back, and, paying no attention to the sick 
woman, insisted that they were going to ride Love- 
joy out of town. By this time a few respectable 
citizens had heard the noise, and came to his aid. 
A second time the rabble was driven away ; but they 
stayed in the yard, and made the night hideous with 
their threats to the Abolitionist. Presently some of 
the men went up to Lovejoy's room the third time, 
and one of them gave him a note, which demanded 
that he leave St. Charles by ten o'clock the next 
morning. Lovejoy's friends begged him to send 
out an answer promising that he would leave. Al- 
though he at first declined to do this, he finally 
yielded to their urging. He wrote, " I have already 
taken my passage in the stage, to leave to-morrow 
morning, at least by nine o'clock." This note was 
carried out to the crowd on the lawn, and read to 
them. His friends thought the mob would scatter 
after that, and they did for a time ; but after listen- 
ing to violent speeches returned again. The noise 
was now so threatening that Lovejoy's friends begged 
him to fly from the house. His wife added her 
pleadings to theirs, and at last he stole out unnoticed 
by a door at the rear. He hated to leave his wife in 
such a dangerous situation, however, and so, after 
waiting a short time, he went back. His friends re- 
proached him for returning, and their reproaches 
were justified, for, like hounds scenting the fox, the 
mob menaced the house more noisily than ever. 



126 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Lovejoy saw that he must leave again in order to 
protect his wife and friends. This he succeeded in 
doing, and walked about a mile to the residence of a 
Major Sibley. This friend lent him a horse, and he 
rode out of town to the house of another friend four 
miles away. Next day Mrs. Lovejoy joined him, 
and they went on together to Alton. 

One of the very first people they met in Alton 
was a man from St. Charles who had been among 
those who had broken into their house the night 
before. Mrs. Lovejoy was alarmed at seeing him in 
Illinois, because the mob in St. Charles had declared 
that they were going to drive Lovejoy out of that 
part of the country. In order to quiet her fears her 
husband asked some friends to come to his house, 
and ten men, well armed, spent the next night guarc?- 
ing it, while he himself kept a loaded musket at his 
side. The storm-clouds were gathering about his 
devoted head. 

Even the leading citizens of this Illinois town now 
felt that it was Lovejoy's own fault if his newspaper 
was attacked. They hated mobs, but most of them 
hated Abolitionists even more. If he would stop 
attacking slavery, the crowds would stop attacking 
him. It was evident that the lawless element did 
not intend to let him continue to print his news- 
paper, and it was almost as clear that the mayor 
and authorities were not going to protect him. 
Three times now his press had been destroyed. 

This son of the Puritans was not to be driven 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 127 

from his purpose by threats or blows, but he was 
forced to see that it was a great waste of money to 
have one press after another thrown into the Missis- 
sippi River. His friends in the town of Quincy 
urged him to set up his press there, and he feh 
much inclined to do so. He decided to wait, how- 
ever, until the next meeting of the Presbyterian 
Synod, when he would learn whether the men of 
his church sided with him or not. This meeting 
ended in discussion, breaking up along the old lines 
of those who were friends and those who were 
enemies of slavery. Some of the members had 
already joined Anti-Slavery Societies, while others, 
although they were opposed to mob-violence, did 
not approve of the newspaper's attack on slave- 
holding citizens. In a stirring speech Lovejoy said 
that they were to decide whether the press should be 
free in that part of the United States. He ended 
with an appeal for justice. " I have no personal 
fears," he declared. " Not that I feel able to contest 
the matter with the whole community. I know 
perfectly well I am not. I know, sir, that you can 
tar and feather me, hang me up, or put me into the 
Mississippi, without the least difficulty. But what 
then ? Where shall I go ? I have been made to 
feel that if I am not safe at Alton, I shall not be safe 
anywhere. I recently visited St. Charles to bring 
home my family, and was torn from their frantic 
embrace by a mob. I have been beset night and 
day at Alton. And now if I leave here and go 



128 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

elsewhere, violence may overtake me in my retreat, 
and I have no more claim upon the protection of 
any other community than I have upon this ; and I 
have concluded, after consultation with my friends, 
and earnestly seeking counsel of God, to remain at 
Alton, and here to insist on protection in the exercise 
of my rights." 

This speech made a great impression upon its 
hearers. The words were those of a man who had 
thought long upon his subject, and had made up his 
mind as to what he should do. He expressed no 
enmity toward the men who had treated him so ill, 
and he did not complain of the members of his own 
church who were lukewarm in their support. A 
man who was present said that Lovejoy's speech 
reminded him of the words of St. Paul when brought 
before Festus, or of Martin Luther speaking to the 
council at Worms. 

Having decided to stay, Lovejoy ordered his 
fourth printing-press. This was due to arrive early 
in November, and as the time drew near there was 
no little excitement and anxiety among the friends of 
peace in the town. Whenever the puff of a steam- 
boat was heard men hurried to the banks of the 
Mississippi. Some meant to defend the press from 
attack ; others meant to hurl it into the river as 
they had already done with its predecessors. The 
press had an eventful journey. The first plan was 
to land it at a place called Chippewa, about five 
miles down the river, and then carry it secretly into 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 129 

Alton. But the roads grew bad, and this plan was 
abandoned. The press reached St. Louis on Sun- 
day night, November 5th, and it was arranged that 
the steamer should land it at Alton about three o'clock 
Tuesday morning. As soon as this was known, 
Lovejoy and his friend Oilman went to the mayor 
and told him of the threat that had been made 
to destroy the press, asking him to appoint special 
constables to protect it. The town council voted 
that Lovejoy and his friends be requested not to 
persist in setting up an Abolition press in Alton, 
but the mayor refused to sign this request. 

Monday night forty or fifty citizens, intent on see- 
ing that the press was protected, gathered at the 
warehouse of Godfrey, Oilman and Company where 
the press was to be stored. Some thirty of them 
formed a volunteer company, with one of the city 
constables in command. They were armed with 
rifles and muskets loaded with buckshot or small 
balls. The editor of the Observer was not there. 
Only a night or two before his house had been 
attacked, and his sister had narrowly escaped serious 
injury. So he arranged with a brother, who was 
staying with him, to take turns standing guard 
at his house and at the office. 

At three o'clock the steamboat arrived at the 
dock. Lovejoy's enemies had stationed sentinels 
along the river, and as the boat passed they gave 
the alarm by blowing horns, so that when the dock 
was reached a large crowd had gathered. Some 



130 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

one called the mayor, and he came down to the 
warehouse. He begged the volunteer company to 
keep quiet, and said he himself would see to the 
safe storing of the press. No serious trouble fol- 
lowed. The crowd watched the stevedores carry 
the press to the warehouse, but did not attack it, 
except to throw a few stones. It was stood in the 
garret of the stone warehouse, safe from the 
enemy. 

On Tuesday every one knew that the " Abolition 
press " had arrived, and Tuesday night the same 
volunteers went down to the warehouse again. 
Everything was quiet, and by nine o'clock all but 
about a dozen left the place. Lovejoy stayed by the 
press, it being his brother's turn to guard his house. 
The warehouse stood high above the river, apart 
from other buildings, with considerable open space 
on the sides to the river and to the north. 

About ten o'clock that night loafers and stragglers 
began to come from saloons and restaurants, and 
gather in the streets that led to the warehouse. 
Some thirty, armed with muskets, pistols, and 
stones, marched to the door, and demanded admit- 
tance. Mr. Gilman, one of the owners of the ware- 
house, standing at the garret door, asked what they 
wanted. The leader answered, " The press." Mr. 
Gilman said that he would not give up the press. 
" We have no ill feelings toward any of you," he 
added, " and should regret to harm you ; but we are 
authorized by the mayor to defend our property, and 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 131 

shall do so with our lives." The mob leader an- 
swered that they meant to have the press at any 
cost, and leveled a pistol at Mr. Gilman, who drew 
back from the door. The crowd began to throw 
stones, and broke a number of windows. Then they 
fired through the windows. The men inside re- 
turned the shots. One or two of the mob were 
wounded ; and this checked them for a time. Soon, 
however, others came with ladders, and materials 
for setting fire to the roof of the building. They 
kept on the side of the warehouse where there were 
no windows, and where they could not be driven 
away by the defenders. It was a moonlight night, 
and the small company inside the building did not 
dare go out into the open space in front. At this 
point the mayor appeared and carried a flag of truce 
through the mob to Lovejoy's friends, asking that 
the press be given up, and the men in the ware- 
house depart peacefully without other property be- 
ing destroyed. He told them that unless they sur- 
rendered the mob would set fire to the warehouse. 
They answered that they had gathered to defend 
their property, and intended to do it. He admitted 
that they had a perfect right to do this, and went 
back to report the result of his mission to the lead- 
ers. Outside a shout went up, " Fire the building, 
drive out the Abolitionists, burn them out 1 " A 
great crowd had gathered, but there were no officers 
of the law ready to defend the press. 

Ladders were placed against the building, and the 



132 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

roof was set on fire. Five men volunteered to go 
out and try to prevent the firing. They left the 
building by the riverside, fired at the men on the 
ladder, and drove them away. The crowd drew 
back, while the five returned to the store. The mob 
did not venture to put up their ladder again, and 
presently Lovejoy and two or three others opened a 
door and looked out. There appeared to be no one 
on this side, and Lovejoy stepped forward to recon- 
noiter. Some of his enemies, however, were hidden 
behind a pile of lumber, and one of them fired a 
double-barreled gun. The editor was hit by five 
balls. He turned around, ran up a flight of stairs in 
the warehouse, and into the counting-room. There 
he fell, dying a few minutes later. 

With their leader killed some of the company 
wanted to give up the battle, while others insisted 
on fighting it out. They finally resolved to yield. 
A clergyman went to one of the upper windows and 
called out that Elijah Lovejoy had been killed and 
that they would give up the press if they might be 
allowed to go unmolested. The crowd answered 
that they would shoot them all where they were. 
One of the defenders determined to go out at any 
risk and make terms. As soon as he opened the 
door, he was fired upon and wounded. The roof 
was now blazing, and one of their friends reached 
a door and begged them to escape by the rear. All 
but two or three laid down their arms, running out 
at the southern door, and fled down the bank of the 



FATE OF LOVEJOY'S PRINTING-PRESS 133 

river. The mob fired at them, but only one was 
wounded. The crowd rushed into the warehouse, 
threw the press out the window, breaking it into 
pieces, and scattered the pieces in the Mississippi. 
At two o'clock they had disappeared, having accom- 
plished their evil purpose of preventing a " free 
press" in Alton. 

Elijah Lovejoy was only thirty-five years old 
when he met his martyr's death. His life in Mis- 
souri and Illinois had been one constant fight 
against slavery, and for liberty of speech. His Pur- 
itan ancestry made it impossible for him to give up 
the battle he knew to be right. The story of his 
heroic struggle and death aroused lovers of liberty 
all over the country, and newspapers everywhere 
denounced the acts of the mob at Alton. Such acts 
meant that men could not speak their minds on 
public questions, and a '' free press " had been one 
of the dearest rights of American citizens. Men in 
the North at that time had by no means agreed that 
slavery must be abolished, but they did all believe in 
the freedom of the press. For that cause Lovejoy 
had been a martyr. 

More than two decades were to pass before the 
question of slavery was to be settled forever, and in 
the years between 1837 and i860 many men of the 
same stock and stripe as Elijah Lovejoy were to 
give up their lives in heroic defense of their belief in 
freedom. He was one of the first of a long line of 
heroes. His voice sounded a call that was to echo 



134 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

through the border states for years to come, inspir- 
ing others to take up his cause. A freedom-loving 
country should place among its noblest sons this 
dauntless editor and preacher. 



VI 

HOW MARCUS WHITMAN SAVED 
OREGON 

The Hudson's Bay Company, whose business 
was to buy skins and furs from the American In- 
dians, had located a trading-post at Fort Walla 
Walla, in the country of the Cayuse and Nez Perces 
Indians. This was in what was known as Oregon 
Territory in 1842, although it is now near the south- 
east corner of the state of Washington. Here was 
a very primitive settlement, the frame houses of a 
few white men and the tents of Indians. Very little 
effort had been made to grow grain or fruit or to 
raise sheep or cattle, since the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany wanted the Indians to be continually on the 
hunt for furs, and discouraged them from turning 
into farmers. Besides the traders and the Indians 
there was a small missionary camp near at hand, 
located on a beautiful peninsula made by two 
branches of the Walla Walla River. This place 
was called by the Indians Wai-i-lat-pui, meaning the 
region of rye grass. Beyond the fertile ground on 
the river's banks were borders of timber-land, and 
beyond them plains stretching to the foot-hills of the 
great Blue Mountains. In 1842 this wonderful 



136 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

country was free to any who cared to come and set- 
tle there, but as yet very few had ventured so far 
into the wilderness. 

The chief man at the missionary camp, Dr. 
Marcus Whitman, was called to Fort Walla Walla on 
the first day of October, 1842, to see a sick man. 
He found a score or so of traders and Hudson's Bay 
clerks, almost all Englishmen, gathered there, and 
accepted their invitation to stay to dinner. The men 
were a genial company, and had already taken a 
liking to Whitman, who was frank and amiable, and 
an interesting story-teller. Gradually the conversa- 
tion at the dinner table came round to a subject that 
was vastly important to the men present, although 
the outside world seemed to be paying little atten- 
tion to it — to which country was this great territory 
of Oregon to belong, to the United States or to 
England ? The general opinion appeared to be 
that under the old treaties it would belong to the 
country that settled it first. 

In the midst of the discussion there was the sound 
of hoof-beats outside, the door of the company's 
office was flung open, and an express messenger 
ran into the dining-room. " I'm just from Fort 
Colville ! " he cried. " A hundred and forty Eng- 
lishmen and Canadians are on the march to settle 
here ! " 

There was instant excitement, A young priest 
threw his cap in the air, shouting, " Hurrah for 
Oregon — America's too late ; we've got the coun- 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 137 

try ! " The traders clapped each other on the 
shoulder, and made a place for the messenger at the 
head of the table. As he ate he told them how he 
had ridden from the post three hundred and fifty 
miles up the Columbia River to let all the fur-traders 
know that the English were on the way to colonize 
the country. 

Marcus Whitman smiled, and pretended to enjoy 
the celebration ; but in reality he was already con- 
sidering whether he could not do something to save 
this vast and fruitful region for his own nation. It 
was an enormous tract of land, of untold wealth, 
and stretching over a long reach of the Pacific coast. 
As he considered. Whitman heard the Hudson's Bay 
Company's men grow more and more excited, until 
they declared that they intended to take possession 
of all the country west to the Pacific slope the follow- 
ing spring. 

The missionary had been expecting this struggle 
between the English and the Americans for the 
ownership of Oregon, but had not thought it would 
come to a head quite so soon. He left the men at 
Fort Walla Walla as early as he could, and rode 
back to the little settlement at Wai-i-lat-pui. There 
he told his wife and friends the news he had learned 
at the trading-post. " If our country is to have 
Oregon," he said, "there is not a day to lose." 

" But what can we do ? " the others asked him. 

" I must get to Washington as quick as I can, and 
let them know the danger." 



138 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

His friends understood what that meant, a journey 
on horseback across almost an entire continent, 
through hostile Indians, over great rivers and moun- 
tain ranges, and in the depths of winter. Some one 
pointed out that under the rules of the American 
Mission Board that had sent them into the far west 
none of their number could leave his post without 
consent from the headquarters in Boston. " Well," 
said Whitman, " if the Board dismisses me, I will do 
what I can to save Oregon to the country. My life 
is of but little worth if I can save this country to the 
American people." 

His wife, a brave, patriotic woman who had shared 
his hard travels westward without a murmur, agreed 
with him that he must go. They all insisted, how- 
ever, that he should have a companion. "Who will 
go with me ? " asked Whitman. In answer a man 
who had only lately joined the small encampment, 
Amos L. Lovejoy, immediately volunteered. 

Urging upon their friends the need of keeping the 
plan a secret from the Hudson's Bay Company fur- 
traders, the two men quickly prepared, and left the 
camp on October 3d. They had a guide, three 
pack-mules, and for the start of their journey an 
escort of a number of Cayuse braves, men of an In- 
dian tribe that was not large, but was wealthy, and 
that seemed to have taken a liking to Whitman and 
his friends at the mission settlement. 

The leader himself had one fixed idea in his mind, 
to reach Washington before Congress adjourned. 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 139 

He was convinced that only through his account of 
the riches of Oregon could the government learn 
what the country stood in danger of losing. 

The little company got a good start, and with fresh 
horses, riding southeast toward the border of what 
is now the state of Idaho, they reached Fort Hall in 
eleven days. Here was stationed Captain Grant, 
who had always done his best to hinder immigration 
into Oregon, and had induced many an American 
settler to go no farther westward. He knew Whit- 
man of old, and six years before had tried to stop 
his expedition to the Walla Walla River, but Whit- 
man had overcome his arguments, and had taken the 
first wagon that ever crossed the Rocky Mountains 
into Oregon. As he had tried to prevent Whitman 
from going west before, so now he tried to prevent 
him from going east. He told him that the Black- 
feet Indians had suddenly grown hostile to all white 
men, that the Sioux and Pawnees were at war with 
each other, and would let no one through their 
country, and finally that the snow was already 
twenty feet deep in the passes of the Rockies, and 
travel through them was altogether out of the ques- 
tion. 

This information was far from reassuring, and, 
backed as it was by Captain Grant's entreaties and 
almost by his commands, would have deterred many 
a man from plunging into that winter wilderness. 
Whitman, however, was a man who could neither be 
turned aside nor discouraged. His answer to all 



I40 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

protests at Fort Hall was to point to the official 
permit he had carried west with him, ordering all 
officers to protect and aid him in his travels, and 
signed by Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, and to 
declare that he intended to push on east, hostile 
Indians, mountains, and blizzards notwithstanding. 
Captain Grant saw that he could not stop Whitman, 
and, much to his chagrin, had to let him pass the 
fort. 

The route Whitman had plotted out lay first east 
and then south, in the general direction of the 
present site of Salt Lake City. His objective points 
were two small military posts. Fort Uintah and 
Fort Uncompahgra. As soon as the two men left 
Fort Hall they ran into terribly cold weather. The 
deep snow kept them back, and they had to pick any 
shelter they could find, and crawl slowly on, some- 
times taking a day to cover a few miles. At Fort 
Uintah they procured a guide to the second post, 
which was on the Grand River, and at the latter 
point a Mexican agreed to show them the way to 
Taos, a settlement in what is now the state of New 
Mexico. So far their southeasterly course had 
allowed them to skirt the high mountains, but here 
they had to cross a range, and in the pass ran full 
into a terrific snow-storm. 

It was impossible to go forward in the teeth of 
that gale, so Whitman, Lovejoy, and their guide 
looked about for shelter. They found a rocky 
defile with a mountain shoulder to protect it, and 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 141 

led their horses and pack-mules into this pocket. 
In this dark, cold place they stayed for ten days, 
trying each morning to push on through the pass, 
and being blown back each time. On the eleventh 
day the wind had abated somewhat, and they tried 
again. They went a short distance when, coming 
around a corner, a fresh storm broke full upon 
them, blinding and freezing the men, and pelting 
the animals with frozen snow so that they were 
almost uncontrollable. 

The native guide now admitted that he was no 
longer sure of the way, and refused to go any 
farther. Clearly the only thing to be done was 
to return for the eleventh time to the sheltered ravine. 
But now the snow had drifted across their trail, and 
none of the three men was at all certain of the road 
back. Whitman dismounted, and kneeling in the 
snow, prayed that they might be saved for the work 
that they had to do. 

Meantime the guide resolved to try an old hunting 
expedient, and turned one of the lead mules loose. 
The mule was confused at first, and stumbled about, 
heading one way and then another, but finally 
started to plunge back through the drifts as if to a 
certain goal. " There," shouted the guide, ** that 
mule will find the camp if he can live long enough 
in this storm to reach it." The men urged their 
horses after the plunging beast, and slipping and 
sliding and beating their half-frozen mounts, at last 
came around the mountain shoulder and got in the 



142 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

lee of the ravine. That bit of hunter's knowledge 
and that mule had much to do with saving the great 
northwest to the United States. 

Once safe in this comparative shelter the guide 
turned to Dr. Whitman. " I will go no farther," 
said he ; " the way is impassable." 

Whitman knew that the man meant what he said, 
and he had just seen for himself what a storm could 
do to travelers, but he said as positively in the 
ravine as he had already said in the comfortable 
'protection of Fort Hall, " I must go on." He con- 
sidered their situation a minute, and then said to 
Lovejoy, "You stay in camp, and I'll return with 
the guide to the fort and get a new man." 

The pack-mules needed rest, and so this plan was 
agreed to. Whitman and the obstinate guide went 
back, while Lovejoy waited in the ravine and tried 
to nourish the mules by gathering brush and the 
inner bark of willows for them to eat. Fortunately 
mules can live on almost anything. 

For a week Lovejoy stayed in the ravine, only 
partly sheltered from wind and snow, before Whit- 
man returned. He brought a new guide with him, 
and, the storm having now lessened, the little party 
was able to get through the pass and strike out for 
the post at Taos. 

The route Whitman was taking was far from 
direct, was in fact at least a thousand miles longer 
than if they had headed directly east from Walla 
Walla, but they were avoiding the highest Rockies, 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 143 

and were traveling to a certain extent in the shelter 
of the ranges, where there was much less snow and 
plenty of fire-wood could be found. The winter of 
1842-43 was very cold, and if they had journeyed 
direct the continual storms and lack of all fuel for 
camp-fires might have caused a different ending 
to their cross-country ride. As it was they suffered 
continually from frozen feet and hands and ears, and 
lost a number of days when one or the other could 
not sit his saddle. 

Traveling far to the south they came to the Grand 
River, one of the most dangerous rivers in the west. 
The current, even in summer, is rapid, deep, and 
cold. Now, in winter, solid ice stretched two hun- 
dred feet from either shore, and between the ice 
was a rushing torrent over two hundred feet wide. 

The guide studied the swift, boiling current, and 
shook his head. " It's too risky to try to cross," he 
declared. 

" We must cross, and at once," said Whitman 
positively. He dismounted, and, picking out a 
willow tree near the shore, cut a pole about eight 
feet long. He carried this back to his horse, 
mounted, and put the pole on his shoulder, gripping 
it with his left arm. " Now you shove me off," he 
said to the men. Lovejoy and the guide did as he 
ordered, and Whitman and his horse were pushed 
into the stream. They disappeared under the 
water, but soon came up, struggling and swimming. 
In a minute or two the horse struck rocky bottom. 



144 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

and could wade. Whitman jumped off, broke the 
ice with his pole, and helped the animal to get to 
the shore. 

Meantime Lovejoy and the guide, breaking the 
ice on their side, headed their horses and the pack- 
mules into the river. Animals in that country are 
always ready to follow where their leader goes, and 
they all swam and splashed their way across. The 
men found plenty of wood at hand, and soon had a 
roaring fire, by which they camped, and dried out 
thoroughly before riding on. 

The delays caused by their stay in the mountains 
and physical hardships had made their store of pro- 
visions run low. At one time they had to kill a dog 
that had joined them, and a little later one of the 
mules for food. Eating and sleeping little, and 
pushing on as rapidly as they could they finally 
reached the old city of Santa Fe, the metropolis of 
the southwest. But here Whitman only stopped 
long enough to buy fresh provisions. 

They were now heading for Bent's Fort near the 
head of the Arkansas River. The storms in the hills 
were past, and they were riding over vast treeless 
prairies, where there was plenty of grass for the 
horses, and any amount of wild game if they could 
have stopped long enough to replenish their larder 
with it. Again and again they were forced to prairie 
expedients. Once, as they reached one of the tribu- 
taries of the Arkansas River, after a long and tedious 
day on the plains, they found the river frozen over 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 145 

with a layer of smooth, clear ice, hardly strong 
enough to bear a man. They must have wood, but 
although there was plenty of it on the other side, 
there was none on their shore of the stream. Whit- 
man took the ax from his kit, and lying down on the 
thin ice, contrived with great caution and patience 
to make his way across. On the other bank he cut 
long poles and short cross-pieces. These he pushed 
across the ice to Lovejoy, and with them they made 
enough of a bridge for the latter to urge the horses 
and mules to try to cross. They all got over safely, 
though with much slipping and splashing. In cut- 
ting his last pole Whitman split the ax-helve. When 
they camped he bound the break with a deerskin 
thong, but that night a thieving wolf found the ax 
at the edge of the camp, wanted the fresh deerskin, 
and dragged away ax and thong. The loss would 
have been very serious if it had happened earlier in 
their journey. 

When they were within four days' ride of Bent's 
Fort they met a caravan traveling toward Taos. 
The leader told Whitman that a party of moun- 
taineers was about leaving Bent's Fort for St. Louis, 
but added that Whitman and Lovejoy, hampered by 
their pack animals, would not be in time to join them. 

Whitman was very anxious to join the mountain- 
eers if he could, and decided to leave Lovejoy and 
the guide with the pack-mules. Taking the fastest 
horse, and a small store of food, he rode on alone, 
hoping to catch the party. To do this he would 



146 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

have to travel on Sunday, something they had not 
done before. 

Lovejoy saw Dr. Whitman start on his ride, but 
when the former reached Bent's Fort four days later 
he was astonished to find that Whitman had not 
arrived there, nor been heard from. As that part of 
the country was full of packs of gray wolves, now 
half-starved on account of the snow, Lovejoy was 
alarmed. 

If not a prey to the wolves. Whitman must be 
lost ; so his friend took a good guide from the Fort 
and started to search for him. He traveled up-river 
a hundred miles, and there fell in with Indians who 
told him of a lost white man who was trying to find 
the Fort, and whom they had directed down the 
river. Lovejoy went back, and late that afternoon 
saw Whitman come riding in, convinced that his 
journey had been so much delayed because he had 
traveled on Sunday. 

The party of mountaineers had already left, but a 
messenger had been sent after them, and they stayed 
in camp, waiting for Whitman. Tired as he was, he 
started out immediately with a new guide, particu- 
larly eager to join this company, because they were 
now nearing the outposts of civilization, where the 
worst white men and Indians beset the pioneers. 
Lovejoy waited at Bent's Fort, and went east with 
the next caravan that started for St. Louis. 

Whitman came safely through to St. Louis, where 
he had friends. He was at once surrounded by 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 147 

trappers and traders in Indian goods and furs who 
wanted news of the plains. In his turn he asked 
news of Congress, and learned that the Ashburton 
Treaty, settling a part of the boundary between 
Canada and the United States, had been approved 
and signed, but that the question of Oregon had not 
been settled, and from the reports of what had been 
said in the debates at Washington he knew that 
none of the American statesmen realized what a 
great prize Oregon Territory was. 

He must reach the capital before Congress ad- 
journed if possible. The rivers were frozen, and he 
had to rely on a journey by stage, slow at all times, 
but especially so in midwinter. He toiled slowly 
eastward, taking one coach after another, swinging 
and swaying and rocking across the center of the 
country, and reaching the capital in time to plead 
the cause of the northwest. 

Washington was used to many strange types of 
men in those pioneer days, but even among such 
Marcus Whitman was a striking figure. He was of 
medium height, compact of build, with big shoulders 
and a large head. His hair was iron gray, and that, 
as well as his moustache and beard, had not been cut 
for four months. He was of pioneer type, living so 
long among Indians and trappers, and watching so 
constantly for wolves and bears, that he seemed awk- 
ward and uncouth in an eastern city. His clothes 
were a coarse fur jacket with buckskin breeches, fur 
leggings, and boot moccasins. Over these he wore 



148 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

a buffalo overcoat, with a head-hood for bad weather. 
He did not show an inch of woven garment. 

Whitman reached Washington in March, 1843, 
and immediately urged his case before President 
Tyler, Secretary of State Daniel Webster, and many 
congressmen. He found the densest ignorance 
concerning Oregon Territory, a tract of territory 
which has since been divided into the three states of 
Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A senator had 
said of that territory, " What is the character of this 
country ? As I understand it there are seven hun- 
dred miles this side of the Rocky Mountains that 
are uninhabitable ; where rain never falls ; moun- 
tains wholly impassable, except through gaps and 
depressions, to be reached only by going hundreds 
of miles out of the direct course. ... Of 
what use would it be for agricultural purposes? 
I would not, for that purpose, give a pinch of snuff 
for the whole territory. I wish the Rocky Moun- 
tains were an impassable barrier. If there was 
an embankment of even five feet to be removed 
I would not consent to expend five dollars to remove 
it and enable our population to go there." Another 
statesman declared, " With the exception of land 
along the Willamette and strips along other water 
courses, the whole country is as irreclaimable and 
barren a waste as the Desert of Sahara. Nor is this 
the worst ; the climate is so unfriendly to human 
life that the native population has dwindled away 
under the ravages of malaria." And newspaper 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 149 

opinions were no more favorable. The Louis- 
ville Journal wrote, " Of all the countries upon 
the face of the earth Oregon is one of the least 
favored by heaven. It is the mere riddlings of 
creation. It is almost as barren as Sahara and 
quite as unhealthy as the Campagna of Italy. 
Russia has her Siberia and England has her Bot8.ny 
Bay, and if the United States should ever need 
a country to which to banish her rogues and 
scoundrels, the utility of such a region as Oregon 
would be demonstrated. Until then, we are per- 
fectly willing to leave this magnificent country 
to the Indians, trappers and buffalo hunters that 
roam over its sand-banks." 

Marcus Whitman had ridden four thousand miles, 
and starved, frozen, and never rested in order to 
overcome such opinions. The President and Daniel 
Webster were polite to him, but neither seemed 
to think much of the northwest. As he was 
describing the richness of the country, its fertile 
soil, great forests, precious minerals, and delightful 
climate, Webster interrupted. " But Oregon is 
shut off by impassable mountains and a great 
desert, which make a wagon road impossible," said 
he. Whitman answered, " Six years ago I was 
told there was no wagon road to Oregon, and 
it was impossible to take a wagon there, and yet in 
despite of pleadings and almost threats, I took 
a wagon over the road and have it now." The 
missionary's earnest, forceful manner impressed 



150 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

both President Tyler and Secretary Webster, and 
gradually they began to think it might be worth 
while to protect the claim of the United States 
to that country. Finally Whitman said, "All I 
ask is that you won't barter away Oregon, or 
allow English interference until I can lead a band 
of stalwart American settlers across the plains : 
for this I will try to do." 

" Dr. Whitman," answered President Tyler, "your 
long ride and frozen limbs speak for your courage 
and patriotism ; your missionary credentials are 
good vouchers for your character ; " and he granted 
the request. 

This was all Whitman wanted, because he be- 
lieved that under the treaty then in force between 
the United States and England the nation that 
should colonize the country was to own it. He 
knew that up to that time the English Hudson's 
Bay Company had bought out all American traders 
or driven out all settlers, but he hoped he could 
lead enough emigrants there now to hold it for 
the United States. 

He next went to the American Missionary Board 
in Boston, which had originally sent him out to 
Oregon. There he met with cold treatment, and 
was told he should not have left the camp at Wai-i- 
lat-pui without permission from Boston, and that 
his trip across the continent was a wild-goose chase. 
This unmerited rebuke must have hurt him sorely. 
He was, however, so filled with eagerness to lead 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 151 

his party of pioneers west that he did not let it 
daunt him, but went on with his preparations. 
In this he was very much helped by his companion 
Lovejoy, who was gathering a large number of 
emigrants on the frontier awaiting Whitman's 
return. 

The meeting point of the emigrants was the 
little town of Weston, not far from where Kansas 
City now stands. Here and at various near-by 
settlements the pioneers gathered early in the 
year 1843, waiting for Dr. Whitman to join them, 
and for the spring grass to grow high enough 
to feed their cattle. As it happened, that year the 
grass was late, and the caravan did not get under 
way until the first week in June. Whitman himself 
was delayed through the need of leaving careful 
instructions for those who were to cross the plains 
later in the year. The caravan started before Whitman 
arrived, and he did not overtake the advance guard 
until they had reached the Platte River. When 
he did actually join the emigrants he looked after 
everything, mending broken prairie wagons, cheer- 
ing tired mothers, acting as surgeon and doctor, 
hunting out fords through quicksands and rivers, 
searching for water and grass in the desert plains, 
seeking new passes through the mountains, and 
at night superintending the building of camp- 
fires and keeping watch against an attack by wolves 
or other wild animals. 

The journey from the Platte River as far as Fort 



152 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Hall, which was near the eastern border of Oregon 
Territory, was much like other pioneer travels 
through the west. Whitman had been over this 
trail several times and the difficulties he encountered 
were not new to him. At Fort Hall he had to 
meet Captain John Grant again, who, as an agent of 
the Fur Company, did not want new farmers to 
settle in Oregon. 

Instead of appealing only to a few men Captain 
Grant now spoke to several hundred resolute pio- 
neers. He told them of the terrors of the long 
journey through the mountains and the impossi- 
bility of hauling their heavy prairie wagons over 
the passes ; he recounted the failures of other pio- 
neers who had tried what the}^ had planned to do ; 
he showed them in the corral wagons, farm tools, 
and other pioneer implements that earlier emigrants 
had had to leave when they ventured into the 
mountains. He stated the difficulties so clearly 
that this company was almost persuaded, as earlier 
companies had been, to follow his suggestions, 
leave their farming implements behind, and try 
to make a settlement without any of the tools or 
comforts that were so greatly needed in that country. 
Whitman, however, spoiled Grant's plans. He said 
to his followers, " Men, I have guided you thus 
far in safety. Believe nothing you hear about 
not being able to get your wagons through ; every 
one of you stick to your wagons and your goods. 
They will be invaluable to you when you reach 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON i53 

the end of your journey. I took a wagon over 
to Oregon six years ago." The men believed their 
leader, refused to obey Captain Grant, and prepared 
to start on the trail into the high Rockies. 

It was the last six hundred miles of the journey to 
Oregon that usually made the most severe test of 
the settlers' endurance. From Fort Hall the nature 
of the traveling changed entirely, and was apt 
to resemble the retreat of a disorganized army. 
Earlier caravans, although they had taken Captain 
Grant's advice and left many wagons, horses, and 
camp comforts behind, had suffered untold hard- 
ships. Oxen and horses, worn by their long trip 
across the plains, and toiling for long stretches 
through the high passes, were apt to perish in large 
numbers and frequently fell dead in their yokes 
on the road. Wagons already baked in the blazing 
sun of the desert would fall to pieces when they 
struck a sharp rock or were driven over a rough 
incline. Families were obliged to join company 
and throw away everything that tended to impede 
their speed. 

The approaching storms of autumn, which meant 
impassable snow, would not allow them to linger. 
In addition to this there were grizzlies in the moun- 
tains and the constant fear of attack from Indians. 
Such pioneers as strayed from the main company 
were likely to fall in with an enemy that was con- 
tinually hovering on either flank of the march, 
ready to swoop down upon unprotected men or 



154 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

women. This fear added to the speed of the jour- 
ney, and as they progressed the road over which 
they traveled was strewn with dead or worn-out 
cattle, abandoned wagons, discarded cooking uten- 
sils, yokes, harness, chests, log chains, and all kinds 
of family heirlooms that the settlers had hoped 
to carry to their new homes. Sometimes the teams 
grew so much weakened that none dared to ride 
in the wagons, and men, women, and children would 
walk beside them, ready to give a helping push 
up any steep part of the road. A pioneer who 
had once made this journey said, referring to a former 
trip across the mountains, " The fierce summer's 
heat beat upon this slow west-rolling column. The 
herbage was dry and crisp, the rivulets had become 
but lines in the burning sand ; the sun glared from 
a sky of brass ; the stony mountainsides glared 
with the garnered heat of a cloudless summer. The 
dusky brambles of the scraggy sage-brush seemed 
to catch the fiery rays of heat and shiver them 
into choking dust, that rose like a tormenting 
plague and hung like a demon of destruction over 
the panting oxen and thirsty people. 

" Thus day after day, for weeks and months, 
the slow but urgent retreat continued, each day 
demanding fresh sacrifices. An ox or a horse 
would fall, brave men would lift the useless yoke 
from his limp and lifeless neck in silence. If there 
was another to take his place he was brought from 
the loose band, yoked up and the journey resumed. 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON I55 

When the stock of oxen became exhausted, cows 
were brought under the yoke, other wagons left, 
and the lessening store once more inspected ; if 
possible another pound would be dispensed with. 

" Deeper and deeper into the flinty mountains 
the forlorn mass drives its weary way. Each morn- 
ing the weakened team has to commence a struggle 
with yet greater difficulties. It is plain the journey 
will not be completed within the anticipated time, 
and the dread of hunger joins the ranks of the 
tormentors. . . . The Indians hover in the 
rear, impatiently waiting for the train to move 
on that the abandoned trinkets may be gathered 
up. Whether these are gathering strength for a 
general attack we cannot tell. There is but one 
thing to do — press on. The retreat cannot hasten 
into rout, for the distance to safety is too great. 
Slower and slower is the daily progress." 

Marcus Whitman, however, had known these 
difficulties before, and guarded his caravan from 
many of them. 

Up to that date almost no man had crossed 
into Oregon by the route he was taking. A few 
missionaries had made the journey on horseback, 
driving some head of cattle with them, and three or 
four wagons drawn by oxen had reached the Snake 
River at an earlier date, but it was the general 
opinion of trappers that no large company of people 
could travel down the Snake River because of 
the scarcity of pasturage and the rugged road 



156 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

through the mountains. It was also thought that 
the Sioux Indians would oppose the approach of 
such a large caravan because the emigrants might 
kill or drive away the buffaloes, which were already 
diminishing in number and were hunted by this tribe 
for food. 

When they came to cross the Snake River Whit- 
man gave orders to fasten the wagons together in 
one long line, the strongest ones being placed in the 
lead. When the teams were in position Whitman 
tied a long rope about his waist and fastened the 
other end to the first team. Riding his horse into 
the current he swam across the river. He called 
to the other riders to follow him, and at the same 
time to pull on the rope that was tied to the first 
team. In this way the leaders were started into 
the water, and all were drawn over in safety. At 
times, however, it took a great deal of pulling on 
the ropes by many men to drag the weaker teams 
to a safe foothold on the farther bank. The Snake 
River at the place where Whitman forded it was 
divided into three separate rivers by islands, and as 
the last stream on the Oregon shore was a deep and 
rapid current fully a mile wide, it can be seen 
what a task it was to get so many wagons, tired 
ox-teams, and the great company of men, women 
and children across it. But Whitman had solved 
many such problems before. When he and his 
wife went to Oregon six years earlier she had said it 
was a shame that her husband should wear himself 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 157 

out in getting their wagon through. " Yesterday," 
she said, " it was overset in the river and he was 
wet from head to foot getting it out ; to-day it 
was upset on the mountainside, and it was hard 
work to save it." 

There were over a thousand people in this expe- 
dition that was going out to colonize Oregon for the 
United States. They had about one hundred and 
twenty wagons drawn by ox-teams, which averaged 
six yoke of oxen to a team, and, in addition, several 
thousand horses and cattle, led or driven by the 
emigrants. Although they started to travel in one 
body they soon found they could do better by divid- 
ing into two columns, marching within easy hailing 
distance of each other, so long as they were in 
danger of attack by the Indians, and later separating 
into small parties, better suited to the narrow moun- 
tain paths and the meagre pasture lands. 

It is interesting to learn how such a company 
traveled. At four o'clock in the morning the sen- 
tinels who were on guard waked the camp by shots 
from their rifles, the emigrants crept from their 
canvas-covered wagons or tents built against the 
side of the wagons, and soon the smoke of camp-fires 
began to rise in the air. Sixty men, whose duty it 
was to look after the catde, would start out from the 
corral, or enclosed space, spreading through the 
horses and cattle, who had found pasturage over 
night in a great semicircle about the camp. The 
most distant animals were sometimes two miles 



158 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

away. These sixty scouts looked for Indian trails 
beyond the herd and tried to discover whether any 
of the animals had been stolen or had strayed dur- 
ing the night. If none were lost the herders drove 
the animals close to the camp, and by five o'clock 
horses, oxen, and cattle were rounded up, and the 
separate emigrants chose their teams and drove 
them into the corral to be yoked. The corral was a 
circle about one hundred yards deep, formed by 
wagons fastened together by ox-chains, making a 
barrier that could not be broken by any vicious ox 
or horse, and a fortification in case of an attack by 
Indians. 

The camp was very busy from six to seven o'clock ; 
the women prepared breakfast ; the tents were 
packed away, the wagons loaded and the oxen 
yoked and fastened to their owners' wagons. Each 
of the two divisions had about sixty wagons, and 
these were separated into sixteen platoons. Each 
platoon took its turn at leading, and in this way none 
of the wagons had to travel continually in the dust. 
By seven o'clock the corral was broken up ; the 
women and children had found their places in the 
wagons, and the leader, or pilot as he was called, 
mounted his horse and was ready to lead the way 
for the day's journey. A band of young men who 
were not needed at the wagons, well mounted and 
armed, would start on a bufTalo hunt, keeping within 
easy reach of the caravan and hoping to bring back 
food for the night's encampment. 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 159 

At seven o'clock the trumpet sounded the advance, 
and the wagon that was to lead for that day slowly- 
rolled out of the camp and headed the line of march. 
The other wagons fell in behind it, and guided by 
the horsemen, the long line commenced its winding 
route through the mountains. 

The country through which Whitman had chosen 
to travel was beautiful in the extreme ; at times the 
road lay through the great heights of the Rockies, 
with a panorama of wonderful charm stretched on 
the horizon ; at times it lay beside broad rivers 
where the clearness of the air brought out all the 
colors of late summer foliage. The party of hunters 
were also scouts for the caravan, searching the rivers 
for the most promising fords. Having found one 
to their liking, they would signal with a flag to the 
pilot and his guides to show in which direction to 
lead the wagons. These guides kept constantly on 
the alert, for it would be hard if they had to march a 
mile or two out of their way or retrace their steps 
because of wrong advice. The rest of the emigrants 
trusted the route entirely to their leaders and rode or 
marched stolidly along, occasionally stopping to 
gather a few flowers for the women and children in 
the wagons. At noon the whole line stopped for 
dinner. The scouting party would carefully choose 
a good camping place, looking especially for the 
grass and water that were so much needed at the end 
of five hours of hard traveling. The teams were not 
unyoked, but only turned loose from their wagons, 



i6o HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

and the latter were drawn up in columns, four 
abreast. No corral was formed, as there was little 
danger from Indians or risk of animals straying in 
the daytime. 

At this noon rest many matters were discussed by 
the caravan leaders. Whitman and one or two 
others had been chosen to decide disputes between 
the different members of the party. Orders for the 
good of the caravan would be given out at this time, 
and Dr. Whitman would visit any who w^ere sick 
and advise with the various families as to new diffi- 
culties they had met with. 

When dinner was eaten and the teams rested the 
march was resumed, and continued until sundown, 
when the scouts picked out the best camping place 
for the night. The wagons were driven into a great 
circle, fastened each to each, and the cattle freed to 
seek a pasture ; tents were pitched, fires started, and 
all hands were busy. The scene was almost like a 
small frontier town. 

The caravan was divided into three companies, 
and each of the companies subdivided into four 
watches. Each company had the duty of acting as 
sentries for the camp every third night, and each 
watch took its turn. The first watch was set at eight 
o'clock in the evening, just after the evening meal. 
For a short time there would be talking, perhaps 
singing, or the music of the violin or flute. Usually, 
however, the day's traveling had been hard and try- 
ing, and at an early hour the emigrants went to sleep. 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON i6i 

Late in the summer of 1843 Whitman's pioneers 
left the mountains behind them, and came down into 
the valleys watered by the tributaries of the Columbia 
River. As they approached the missionary settle- 
ment at Wai-i-lat-pui a band of Cayuse and Nez 
Perces Indians came to meet them, bringing pack- 
mules loaded with supplies. Few messengers could 
have been more welcome. They told Whitman that 
his wife and friends were still at the little clearing 
where he had left them almost a year before, and 
were eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the 
new settlers. The leader thought that the caravan 
could finish its journey without him now, so he 
chose one of his most reliable Indian guides, Istikus, 
and placed him in charge of the company. Whit- 
man himself hurried on to the mission. Back of him 
rolled the long train of canvas-covered wagons that 
had traveled so far over prairies, rivers, and moun- 
tains. Almost a thousand men, women, and chil- 
dren were coming into this far western section of the 
continent to settle and hold the country for the 
United States. 

Whitman's ride changed the situation. No more 
statesmen could speak of the impassable mountains 
or the impossibility of taking settlers' wagons into 
Oregon. Before Whitman left Washington Daniel 
Webster sent a message to England stating that the 
United States would insist on holding all territory 
south of the forty-ninth degree of latitude. When 
President Tyler was told that a caravan of nearly a 



i62 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

thousand people under Whitman's leadership had 
started for Oregon, a second and more positive 
message to the same effect was sent to England. 
All over the United States men were now demand- 
ing that their government should claim the country 
as far as the Pacific coast, and one great political 
party took as its watchword the motto, "Oregon, 
fifty-four, forty, — or fight," referring to the degree 
of latitude they wanted for the boundary line. The 
Hudson's Bay Company, finding so large a colony 
of pioneers settling among them, was forced to give 
over its efforts to hold the northwest entirely for 
itself. In time the English statesmen agreed to the 
claims of the United States, and on July 17, 1846, a 
treaty was signed, fixing the boundary between 
Canada and the United States at the forty-ninth 
degree, which gave Oregon to the Republic. 

The settlers prospered, and the little missionary 
colony near the Walla Walla River grew in size. 
Whitman resumed his work among the Indians, and 
seemed to win their friendship. There seemed no 
reason why the native tribes and their white friends 
should not live in peace in such an undeveloped 
country. After a time, however, fear or greed or 
false leaders stirred up certain Indians and sent 
them on the war-path against their friends. No one 
knew the real cause for the outburst, but on Novem- 
ber 29, 1847, a band of the Cayuse crept down on 
the litde cluster of houses at Wai-i-lat-pui and killed 
fourteen of the white settlers. Marcus Whitman was 



HOW WHITMAN SAVED OREGON 163 

one of the first to fall. He was in his house, with 
several Indians as usual in the room with him. One 
was sitting close to him, asking for some medicine, 
when another came up behind and struck him with 
a tomahawk. These two then gave the signal, and 
their allies in other houses fell upon the white men 
and women. After the massacre forty men, women, 
and children were carried away from the valley by 
the Indians, but most of them were later rescued 
by the Hudson's Bay Company and sent back to 
their homes. Other white settlers joined forces and 
marched against the treacherous Cayuse, but the 
latter fled through the country, scattering into dif- 
ferent tribes, and the leaders of the attack were not 
captured until nearly two years later. 

Daniel Webster had said in the Senate : " What 
do we want with the vast, worthless area, this region 
of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting 
sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie 
dogs ? To what use could we ever hope to put these 
great deserts, or these endless mountain ranges, im- 
penetrable, and covered to their base with eternal 
snow? What can we ever hope to do with the 
western coast, a coast of three thousand miles, rock- 
bound, cheerless, and uninviting, and not a harbor 
on it? What use have we for such a country?" 
But though many great statesmen agreed with Web- 
ster a simple missionary who had been to Oregon 
looked into the future, saw the value of the vast 
expanse, and had the courage and determination to 



i64 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

ride across the continent for aid, and then bring 
back a thousand settlers to help him realize his 
dream. Marcus Whitman is one of the noblest ex- 
amples of that great type of pioneers who won the 
western country for the United States. 



VII 

HOW THE MORMONS CAME TO 
SETTLE UTAH 

In the winter of 1838-39 a large number of people 
moved into the country on the east bank of the 
Mississippi River in the state of Illinois. They had 
taken the name of " Latter-Day Saints," but were 
generally called Mormons, and were followers of a 
new religion that had been founded by a man named 
Joseph Smith a few years earlier. This strange new 
religion had attracted many people to it, and the 
greater number of them had first moved to Ohio, and 
then into the new state of Missouri, but they were 
not well received by the people of either of those 
states, and had finally been driven from Missouri at 
the point of the sword. Fortunately for them there 
was plenty of unoccupied land in the West, and 
their leader decided to take refuge near the town of 
Quincy in Illinois. At that time a man had only to 
reside in the state for six months in order to cast a 
vote for president, and as an election was near at 
hand the politicians of Illinois were glad to wel- 
come the Mormons. Looking about, the newcomers 
found two "paper" cities, or places that had been 
mapped out on paper with streets and houses, but 



i66 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

had never actually been built. The Mormon leaders 
bought two large farms in the "paper" town of 
Commerce, and many thousand acres in the country 
adjoining, and there they laid out their new city, to 
which they gave the strange name of Nauvoo. 

The Mormon city lay along the Mississippi River, 
and its streets and public buildings were planned on 
a large scale. People flocked to the place, and as 
the Mormon missionaries were eager workers the 
number of converts grew rapidly. A temple was 
built, which a stranger who saw it in 1843 said was 
the wonder of the world. Many Mormon emigrants 
came from England, usually by ship to New Orleans, 
and thence by river steamboat up the Mississippi to 
Nauvoo. By the end of 1844 at least fifteen thou- 
sand people had settled there, and as many more 
were scattered through the country in the imme- 
diate neighborhood. Nauvoo was the largest city 
in Illinois, and its only rival in that part of the West 
was St. Louis. Joseph Smith had obtained a char- 
ter, and both the political parties, the Whigs and 
the Democrats, were doing their best to make friends 
of his people. Nauvoo had little of the rough look 
of most newly-settled frontier towns, and handsome 
houses and public buildings sprang up rapidly along 
its fine wide streets. 

Unfortunately for the Mormons their leader was a 
man who made enemies as easily as he made friends. 
He had aroused much ill feeling when he lived in 
Missouri. As a result, when, one day in May, 1842, 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 167 

Governor Boggs of Missouri was shot and seriously 
wounded while sitting at the window of his home, 
many people laid the crime to Smith or his followers, 
and believed that the prophet himself, as Smith was 
called, had ordered the shooting. The officers of 
Missouri asked the governor of Illinois to hand 
Smith over to them. This was not done, and conse- 
quently ill feeling against the prophet grew stronger. 
In the meantime a man named John C. Bennett, who 
had joined the Mormons at Nauvoo, and had been 
the first mayor of the city, deserted the church, and 
turned into one of the most bitter of its enemies. 
He denounced the Mormons in letters he wrote to 
the newspapers, and exposed what he called their 
secrets. This led other people to attack the ideas 
of the Mormons, and it was not long before there 
was almost as much dislike of them in Illinois as 
there had been in Missouri. 

Even in the Mormon church itself there were men 
who would not agree with all the prophet Joseph 
Smith said. A few of these men set up a printing- 
press and published a paper that they called the 
Nauvoo Expositor. Only one issue of this sheet ap- 
peared, dated June 7, 1844. That was enough, how- 
ever, to raise the wrath of Joseph Smith and his 
elders, and they ordered the city marshal to destroy 
the press. The marshal broke the press and type in 
the main street of the city, and burned the contents 
of the newspaper office. 

The editors hastily fled to the neighboring town 



i68 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

of Carthage. The people there and in all the 
neighboring villages denounced the destruction of 
the press, and declared that the time had come to 
force the Mormons to obey the laws, and, if they 
would not do so, to drive them out of Illinois. 
Military companies were formed, cannon were sent 
for, and the governor of the state was asked to call 
out the militia. 

The governor went to the scene of the trouble to 
investigate. He found all that part of the east shore 
of the Mississippi divided between the Mormons and 
their enemies. He ordered the mayor of Nauvoo to 
send Mormons to him to explain why they had 
destroyed the printing-press, and when he had heard 
their story the governor told them that Smith and his 
elders must surrender to him, or the whole military 
force of the state would be called out to capture 
them. But the prophet had not been idle. He had 
put his city under martial law, had formed what was 
called the Legion of the Mormons, and had called in 
his followers from the near-by villages. He had 
meant to defend his new city ; but when he heard the 
governor's threat to arrest him, he left Nauvoo with 
a few comrades and started for the Rocky Mountains. 
Friends went after him, and begged him not to 
desert his people. He could not resist their appeal 
to him to return, and he went back, although he was 
afraid of the temper of his enemies. As soon as he 
returned to Illinois he was arrested on the charge of 
treason and of putting Nauvoo under martial law, 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 169 

and together with his brother Hyrum was sent to the 
jail at Carthage. 

Some seventeen hundred men, members of the 
militia, had gathered at the towns of Carthage and 
Warsaw, and the enemies of the Mormons urged the 
governor to march at the head of these troops to 
Nauvoo. He knew that in the excited state of af- 
fairs there was danger that if these troops entered 
the city they might set it on fire and destroy much 
property. He therefore ordered all except three 
companies to disband ; with one company he set out 
to visit the Mormon city, and the other two com- 
panies he left to guard the jail at Carthage. 

The governor marched to Nauvoo, spoke to the 
citizens, and, having assured them that he meant no 
harm to their church, left about sundown on his road 
back to Carthage. In the meantime, however, 
events had been happening in the latter place that 
were to affect the whole history of the Mormons. 

The two Smiths, Joseph and Hyrum, with two 
friends, Willard Richards and John Taylor, were 
sitting in a large room in the Carthage jail when a 
number of men, their faces blackened in disguise, 
came running up the stairway. The door of the 
room had no lock or bolt, and, as the men inside 
feared some attack, Hyrum Smith and Richards 
leaped to the door and shutting it stood with their 
shoulders against it. The men outside could not 
force the door open, and began to shoot through it. 
The two men at the door were driven back, and on 



I/O HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the second volley of shot Hyrum Smith was killed. 
As his brother fell the prophet seized a six shooting 
revolver that one of their visitors had left on the 
table, and going to the door opened it a few inches. 
He snapped each barrel at the men on the stair ; 
three barrels missed fire, but each of the three that 
exploded wounded a man. As the prophet fired 
Taylor and Richards stood close beside him, each 
armed with a hickory cane. When Joseph Smith 
stopped shooting the enemy fired another volley 
into the room. Taylor tried to strike down some of 
the guns that were leveled through the broken door. 

" That's right. Brother Taylor, parry them off as 
well as you can ! " cried Joseph Smith. He ran to 
the window, intending to leap out, but as he jumped 
two bullets fired through the doorway struck him, 
and also another aimed from outside the building. As 
soon as the mob saw that the prophet was killed 
they scattered, alarmed at what had been done. 

The people of Carthage and the neighboring 
country expected that the Legion of the Mormons 
would immediately march on them and destroy them. 
Families fled in wagons, on horseback, and on foot. 
Most of the people of the near-by town of Warsaw 
crossed the Mississippi in order to put the river be- 
tween them and their enemies. In this state of 
excitement the governor did not know which party 
to trust, so he rode to the town of Quincy, forty 
miles away, and at a safe distance from the scene of 
trouble. But the Mormons made no attempt to 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 171 

avenge the death of their leader ; they intended to let 
the law look after that. 

Week by week, however, it grew harder for them 
to live on friendly terms with the other people of 
Western Illinois, and more and more troubles arose 
to sow distrust. The Gentiles, as those who were 
not Mormons were called, began to charge the 
Mormons with stealing their horses and cattle, and 
the state repealed the charter that had been granted 
to the city of Nauvoo. 

During that summer of 1845, the troubles of 
Nauvoo's people increased. One night in September 
a meeting of Gentiles at the town of Green Plains 
was fired on, and many laid the attack to the 
Mormons. Whether this was true or not, their 
enemies gathered in force and scoured the country, 
burning the houses, barns, and crops of the Latter- 
Day Saints, and driving them from the country be- 
hind the walls of Nauvoo. From their city streets 
the saints rode out to pay their enemies in kind, and 
so the warfare went on until the governor appointed 
officers to try to settle the feud. The people, how- 
ever, wanted the matter setded in only one way. 
They insisted that the Mormons must leave Illinois. 
In reply word came from Nauvoo that the Saints 
would go in the spring, provided that they were not 
molested, and that the Gentiles would help them to 
sell or rent their houses and farms, and give them 
oxen, horses, wagons, dry-goods, and cash in ex- 
change for their property. The Gentile neighbors 



172 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

would not promise to buy the goods the Mormons had 
for sale, but promised not to interfere with their sell- 
ing whatever they could. At last the trouble seemed 
settled. Brigham Young, the new leader of the 
Mormons, said that the whole church would start 
for some place beyond the Rocky Mountains in the 
spring, if they could sell enough goods to make the 
journey there. So the people of Nauvoo prepared 
to abandon the buildings of their new flourishing city 
on the Mississippi, and spent the winter trading their 
houses for flour, sugar, seeds, tents, wagons, horses, 
cattle, and whatever else might be needed for the 
long trip across the plains. 

The Mormons now looked forward eagerly to 
their march to a new home, and many of them 
traveled through the near-by states, buying horses 
and mules, and more went to the large towns in the 
neighborhood to work as laborers and so add to the 
funds for their journey. The leaders announced 
that a company of young men would start west in 
March, and choose a good situation for their new 
city. There they would build houses, and plant 
crops which should be ready when the rest of the 
Mormons arrived. But they knew there was always 
a chance that the people of the country would attack 
them, and therefore they sent messengers to the 
governors of the territories they would cross, asking 
for protection on the march. On February loth 
Brigham Young and a few other men crossed the 
Mississippi and selected a spot on Sugar Creek as 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 173 

the first camp for the people who were to follow. 
Young and the twelve elders of the Mormons 
traveled together, and wherever their camp was 
pitched that place was given the name of " Camp of 
Israel." 

The emigrants had a test of hardship even when 
they first moved across the Mississippi. The tem- 
perature dropped to twenty degrees below zero, and 
the canvas-covered wagons and tents were a poor 
shelter from the snow-storms for women and children 
who had been used to the comforts of a large town. 
Many crossed the Mississippi on ice. When they were 
gathered on Sugar Creek Brigham Young spoke to 
them from a wagon. He told them of the perils of 
the journey, and then called for a show of hands by 
those who were willing to start upon it ; every hand 
was raised. On March ist the camp was broken 
up, and the long western march began. The Mor- 
mons were divided into companies of fifty or sixty 
wagons, and every night the cattle were carefully 
rounded up and guards set to protect them from at- 
tack. From time to time they built more elaborate 
camps, and men were left in charge to plant grain, 
build log cabins, dig wells, and fence the farms, in or- 
der that they might give food and shelter to other 
Mormons who would be making the journey later. 
The weather was all against their progress. Until 
May it was bitter cold, and there were heavy snow- 
storms, constant rains, sleet, and thick mud to be 
fought with, but like many other bands of American 



174 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

pioneers the Mormons pushed resolutely on, some 
days marching one mile, some days six, until May 
i6th, when they reached a charming spot on a 
branch of the Grand River, and built a camp that 
they called " Mount Pisgah." Here they plowed 
and planted several acres of land. While this camp 
was being pitched, Brigham Young and some of the 
other leaders went on to Council Bluffs and at a 
place north of Omaha, now the town of Florence, 
located the last permanent camp of the expedition. 

The trail of the Mormons now stretched across all 
the western country. At each of the camps men, 
women, and children were living, resting and pre- 
paring supplies to cover the next stage of their jour- 
ney. But in spite of the care with which the march 
was planned those who left Nauvoo last suffered the 
most. There was a great deal of sickness among 
them, and owing to illness they were often forced 
to stop for several days at some unprotected point 
on the prairies. Twelve thousand people in all 
shared that Mormon march. 

The Gentiles in Illinois did not think that the Mor- 
mons were leaving Nauvoo as rapidly as they should. 
Every week from two to five hundred Mormon teams 
crossed the ferry into Iowa, but the neighbors thought 
that many meant to stay. Ill feeling against them 
grew, and a meeting at Carthage called on people 
to arm and drive out all Mormons who remained 
by mid-June. Six hundred men armed, ready to 
march against Nauvoo. 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 175 

When the Mormons first announced that they 
meant to leave their prosperous city in Illinois men 
came hurrying from other parts of the country to 
pick up bargains in houses and farms that they 
thought they would find there. Many of these new 
citizens were as much alarmed at the threats of the 
neighbors as were the Mormons themselves ; some of 
them armed, and asked the governor to send them 
aid. The men at Carthage grew very much excited, 
and started to march on Nauvoo. Word came, 
however, that the sheriff, with five hundred men, had 
entered the city, prepared to defend it, and the 
Gentile army retreated. A few weeks afterward the 
hostilities broke out again, and seven hundred men 
with cannon took the road to the city. 

Those of the Mormons who were left, a few hun- 
dreds in number, had built rude breastworks for 
protection ; some of the Gentile army took these, 
and the rest marched through the corn fields, and 
entered the city on another side. A battle followed 
between the Gentiles in the streets and the Mormons 
in their houses, and lasted an hour before the 
Gentiles withdrew to their camp in the corn fields. 

Peaceful citizens now tried to settle the matter. 
They arranged that all the Mormons should 
leave immediately, and promised to try to protect 
them from any further attacks. So matters stood 
until May 17th, when the sheriff and his men 
marched into the city, and found the last of the Mor- 
mons waiting to leave by the ferry. The next day 



176 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

they were told to go at once, and to make sure that 
they did bands of armed men went through the 
streets, broke into houses, threw what goods were 
left out of doors and windows, and actually threat- 
ened to shoot the people. The few remaining Saints, 
most of them those who had been too ill to take up 
the march earlier, were now thoroughly frightened, 
and before sundown the last one of them had fled 
across the Mississippi. A few days later this last 
party, six hundred and forty in number, began the 
long wearisome journey to the far west, and the 
empty city of Nauvoo was at last in the hands of the 
Gentiles. 

The object of the Mormons was to find a place 
where they might be free to live according to their 
own beliefs. So far they had been continually hunt- 
ing for what they called their own City of Zion. As 
they spent that winter of 1846-47 in their camp near 
Council Bluffs, they tried to decide where they would 
be safest from persecution. The far west had few 
settlements as yet, and they were free to take what 
land they would, but the Mormons wanted a site on 
which to lay the foundations of a city that should one 
day be rich and prosperous. They decided to send 
out a party of explorers, and in April, 1847, one 
hundred and forty-three men, under command of 
Brigham Young, with seventy-three wagons filled 
with food and farm tools, left the headquarters to go 
still farther west. They journeyed up the north fork 
of the Platte River, and in the valleys found great 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 177 

herds of buffaloes, so many in number that they had 
to drive them away before the wagons could pass. 
Each day the bugle woke the camp about five 
o'clock in the morning. At seven the journey be- 
gan. The wagons were driven two abreast by men 
armed with muskets. They were always prepared 
for attacks from Indians, but in the whole of their 
long journey no red men ever disturbed them. Each 
night the wagons were drawn up in a half-circle on 
the river bank, and the cattle driven into this shelter. 
At nine the bugle sent them all to bed. So they 
made their way over the Uinta range to Emigration 
Canyon. Down this canyon they moved, and pres- 
ently came to a terrace from which they saw wide 
plains, watered by broad rivers, and ahead a great 
lake filled with little islands. Three days later 
the company camped on the plain by the bank of 
one of the streams, and decided that this should be 
the site of their new city. They held a meeting at 
which they dedicated the land with religious cere- 
monies, and at once set to work to lay off fields and 
start plowing and planting. Some of them visited 
the lake, which they called the Great Salt Lake, and 
bathed in its buoyant waters. Day by day more of 
the pioneers arrived, and by the end of August they 
had chosen the site of their great temple, built log 
cabins and adobe huts, and christened the place the 
"City of the Great Salt Lake." This name was 
later changed to Salt Lake City. 

It took some time for this large body of emigrants 



1/8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

to build their homes. Wood was scarce and had to 
be hauled over bad roads by teams that were still 
worn out by the long march, therefore many built 
houses of adobe bricks, and as they did not know 
how to use this clay the rains and frost caused many 
of the walls to crumble, and when snow fell the peo- 
ple stretched cloths under their roofs to protect them- 
selves from the dripping bricks. Many families 
lived for months in their wagons. They would take 
the top part from the wheels, and setting it on the 
ground, divide it into small bedrooms. The fur- 
niture was of the rudest sort ; barrels or chests for 
tables and chairs, and bunks built into the side of 
the house for beds. But at last they were free from 
their enemies in this distant country. Men in Ohio, 
Missouri, and Illinois had hounded them from their 
settlements, but in this far-off region they had no 
neighbors except a few pioneer settlers, and wander- 
ing bands of Indians, who were glad to trade with 
them. A steady stream of converts to the Mormon 
church followed that first trail across the plains. A 
missionary sent to England brought many men and 
women from that country to the city on the Great 
Salt Lake. Brigham Young and the other leaders 
encouraged their followers above all else to cultivate 
the land. Most of the Mormons were farmers, and 
what shops there were dealt only in the necessities 
of life. Food was a matter of the first importance, 
and they had to rely entirely upon their own efforts to 
provide it. Every one was given a piece of land for 



HOW THE MORMONS SETTLED UTAH 179 

his house, and most of them had their own farms in 
the outlying country. When they were sure of their 
food they began to build their temple and other 
public buildings, and these, like their streets, were 
all planned on the lines of a great future city. They 
first called their territory Deseret, but later changed 
it to the Indian name of Utah. 

Salt Lake City, and the territory of Utah, of 
which it was the chief settlement, might have re- 
mained for years almost unknown to the rest of the 
United States had not gold been discovered in Cali- 
fornia in the winter of 1849. The news of untold 
riches in the land that lay between Utah and the 
Pacific Ocean brought thousands of fortune hunters 
across the plains, and many of them traveled by way 
of Salt Lake City. That rush of men brought trade 
in its track and served to make the Mormons' cap- 
ital well known. The quest for gold opened up the 
lands along the Pacific and helped to tie the far west 
to the rest of the nation. Soon railroads began to 
creep into the valleys beyond the Rocky Mountains, 
and wherever they have gone they have brought 
men closer together. But in Utah the Mormons 
were the first settlers, and no one could come and 
drive them out of their chosen land. At last they 
had found a city entirely of their own. They had 
not been allowed to live in Nauvoo, and so they 
built a new capital. Like all founders of new relig- 
ions the Mormons had to weather many storms, but 
after they had passed through cold, hunger, and 



i8o HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

hardships of many kinds they came to their promised 
land. 

Such is the story of the founding of Salt Lake 
City, the home of the Mormon people. 



VIII 

THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 

In 1848 California was largely an unexplored re- 
gion, the home of certain old Spanish missions, with 
a few seaport towns scattered along the coast. Some 
pioneers from the East had settled inland after Cal- 
ifornia had been separated from Mexico, and were 
ranching and farming. One of these pioneers, a 
well-to-do man named John A. Sutter, had staked 
out a considerable tract of land near the American 
River. He built a fort or stockade as headquarters, 
and made his plans to cultivate the tract. He had 
a number of men working for him, building a saw- 
mill on the south branch of the American River, 
about forty miles from his main house. These work- 
men were in charge of James Wilson Marshall, who 
intended to have a dry channel serve as the tail-race 
for the mill, and was widening and deepening it by 
loosening the earth. At night the water of the 
stream was allowed to run through this channel, and 
wash out the gravel and sand. One day early in 
January, as Marshall was walking along the bank of 
the race, he noticed some shining yellow flakes in 
the soil. He thought these flakes might be gold, 
and gathering some of the earth carefully washed 



1 82 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

and screened it. In this way he obtained what 
looked like gold-dust. Early the next morning he 
went back to the race, and after some searching 
found a yellow scale larger than the others. He 
showed this, together with those he had obtained 
the day before, to some of the workmen, and they 
helped him to gather about three ounces. Later in 
the day Marshall went to his employer Sutter, who 
was at the fort, and there the two men tested the 
flakes as well as the}^ were able, and reached the 
conclusion that they were really gold-dust. 

It was important to keep the discovery as quiet as 
possible. Searching along the dry channel Sutter 
and Marshall found more of the gold flakes. In 
some places the yellow scales were very plentiful, 
and seemed to promise that large quantities of the 
valuable mineral could be found near at hand. It 
was impossible, however, to keep the news from the 
workmen who had helped in finding the flakes. 
Before long the news spread, and in March, 1848, 
two newspapers of California mentioned the discovery 
on the south fork of the American River. 

The country was so sparsely settled, and life so 
primitive, that no great excitement was caused by 
this news for some months. But in May a Mormon, 
coming from the settlement of Coloma to San 
Francisco, walked down the main street waving a 
bottle filled with gold-dust and shouting " Gold ! 
Gold ! Gold from the American River ! " 

His words, and the sight of the glittering bottle. 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 183 

caused tremendous excitement in San Francisco, and 
in the twinkling of an eye men took possession of 
sailboats, sloops, launches, any kind of craft, and 
started up the Sacramento River. Those who could 
not get boats to take the quicker course hurried oflf 
on horses or mules, in wagons or on foot. It was 
like a fairy tale. The seaport town of San Francisco, 
which had been well filled, was practically deserted 
overnight. Shopkeepers closed their stores, families 
hurried from their houses, and every class of people 
pushed toward the American River. The roads that 
led ihither, which had usually been almost as empty 
as the prairies, were now filled with a wildly rushing 
throng. A man who had crossed the Strait of 
Carquines in April was the only passenger on the 
ferry, but when he returned two weeks later he found 
two hundred wagons trying to drive on board the 
ferry-boat. 

Business on the coast came to a standstill. The 
newspapers that had been started stopped publica- 
tion. The churches closed, and all the town officers 
deserted their posts. As soon as a ship touched the 
coast and the crew heard of the finding of gold they 
deserted, and the captain and mates, seeing them- 
selves without a crew, usually dashed after the 
others. Empty vessels lay at the docks. A large 
ship belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, which 
had put into San Francisco harbor, was in charge of 
the captain's wife, every one else having left for the 
gold fields. Prices in all the country from San 



1 84 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Francisco to Los Angeles jumped prodigiously. If 
men were to stay at their work they demanded and 
received twice their former wages. Shovels and 
spades sold for ten dollars apiece. They, and a few 
other mining implements, were the only things still 
manufactured. The cry of gold had turned men's 
heads like the magic wand of some fairy. 

Inland California presented a strange sight. The 
roads that ran from San Francisco to Sutter's Fort 
had formerly lain between prosperous farm lands, but 
now the crops were going to waste, the houses were 
empty, and the cattle free to wander through fields 
of grain. Along the American River, on the other 
hand, hills and valleys were filled with sheltering 
tents, and huts built of brush and rocks thrown to- 
gether in a hurry. Men could not stop for comfort, 
but worked all day on the river bank. There were 
almost as many ways of searching for the gold as 
there were men. Some tried to wash the sand and 
gravel in pans ; some used closely woven Indian 
baskets ; some used what were called cradles. The 
cradle was a basket six or eight feet long, mounted 
on rockers, and open at one end ; at the other end 
was a coarse screen sieve. Cleats were nailed across 
the bottom of the cradle. One workman would dig 
the gravel from the river bank, another carry it to 
the sieve, a third pour water over it, and a fourth 
rock the cradle The screen separated the stones 
from the gravel, the water washed away the earth 
and carried the heavier soil out of the cradle, thus 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 185 

leaving the black sand filled with the gold. This 
was later carried to a pan and dried in the sun. 
The sand could then be blown away, and the gold 
would be left. 

Men knew that fortunes were to be found here. 
On a creek a few miles below Coloma, seventeen 
thousand dollars' worth of gold was taken from a 
ditch three hundred feet long, four wide, and two 
deep. Another small channel had yielded no less 
than twelve thousand dollars. Many men already 
had bags and bottles that held thousands of dollars' 
worth of the precious mineral. One man, who had 
been able to get fifty Indians to work for him as 
washers, obtained sixteen thousand dollars from a 
small creek in five weeks' time. 

All this quickly changed the character of upper 
California. Every man wanted to be a miner, and 
no longer a cattleman or farmer, as before. It 
looked as though the towns would shrivel up, because 
of the tremendously high wages demanded by the 
men who were needed there. Cooks in San 
Francisco were paid three hundred dollars a month, 
and all kinds of mechanics secured wages of fifteen 
or twenty dollars a day. The forts found it impos- 
sible to keep soldiers on duty. As soon as men were 
paid off they rushed to the American River. Sailors 
deserted as fast as they could, and the American 
war-ships that came to anchor oil Monterey did not 
dare to allow a single man to land. Threats of 
punishment or offers of reward had no influence over 



i86 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the sailors. They all felt certain they could make 
fortunes in a month at the gold fields. 

Soon men began to wonder whether they could 
not duplicate in other places the discovery that 
Marshall had made on Sutter's land. Wherever 
there was a river or stream explorers began to dig. 
They were well rewarded. Rich placers of gold 
were found along the course of almost all the streams 
that flowed to the Feather and San Joaquin Rivers. 
Along the course of the Stanislaus and Toulumne 
Rivers was another field for mining. By midsum- 
mer of 1848 settlers in southern California were 
pouring north in thousands, and by October at least 
ten thousand men were washing and screening the 
soil of river banks. 

The Pacific coast was very far away from the rest 
of the United States in that day. News usually 
traveled by ship, and sailors brought the report of 
the discovery of gold to Honolulu, to Oregon City, 
and to the ports at Victoria and Vancouver. Letters 
carried the first tidings to the people in the East, 
and by the middle of the summer Washington and 
New York had learned what was happening in 
California, and adventurers along the Atlantic coast 
were beginning to turn their faces westward. The 
letters often greatly exaggerated the truth. A New 
York paper printed reports which stated that men 
were picking gold out of the earth as easily as hogs 
could root up groundnuts in a forest. One man, 
who employed sixty Indians, was said to be making 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 187 

a dollar a minute. Small holes along the banks of 
streams were stated to yield many pounds of gold. 
But even allowing for much exaggeration it was 
evident that men were making fortunes in that 
country. 

Colonel Mason, in charge at San Francisco, sent 
Lieutenant Loeser with his report to Washington. 
The lieutenant had to take a roundabout route. He 
went from Monterey to Peru, from there to Panama, 
across the Isthmus, took boat to Jamaica, and from 
there he sailed to New Orleans. When he reached 
the capital he delivered his message, and showed a 
small tea chest which held three thousand dollars' 
worth of gold in lumps and flakes. This chest was 
placed on exhibition, and served to convince those 
who saw it that California must possess more gold 
than any other country yet discovered. President 
Taylor announced the news in an official message. 
He said that the mineral had been found in such 
quantities as could hardly be believed, except on the 
word of government officers in the field. During 
the winter of 1848-49 thousands of men in the East 
planned to start for this El Dorado as soon as they 
could get their outfits together, and spring should 
open the roads. 

The overland route to the West was long and very 
difficult. At that time, though the voyage by sea 
was longer, it was easier for men who lived on the 
Atlantic coast. They might sail around Cape Horn, 
or to the Isthmus of Panama, or to Vera Cruz, and 



i88 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

in the two latter cases cross land, and hope to find 
some ship in the western ocean that would take 
them to San Francisco. Business men in the East 
seized the opportunity to advertise tents, beds, 
blankets, and all manner of camp equipment, as 
well as pans, rockers, and every kind of implement 
for washing gold from the gravel. The owners of 
ships of every description, many of them unsea- 
worthy, fitted up their craft, and advertised them as 
ready to sail for San Francisco. The ports of Boston, 
Salem, Newburyport, New York, Baltimore, and New 
Orleans were crowded with brigs and schooners 
loading for the Pacific. A newspaper in New York 
stated that ten thousand people would leave for the 
gold country within a month. 

All sorts of schemes were tried. Companies were 
formed, each member of which paid one hundred 
dollars or more to charter a ship to take them around 
the Horn. Almost every town in the East had its 
California Association, made up of adventurers who 
wanted to make their fortunes rapidly. By the end 
of January, 1849, eighty vessels had sailed by way 
of Cape Horn, and many others were heading for 
Vera Cruz, and for ports on the Isthmus of Panama. 
The newspapers went on printing fabulous stories 
of the discoveries. One had a letter stating that 
lumps of gold weighing a pound had been found in 
several places. Another printed a letter from a man 
who said he would return in a few months with a 
fortune of half a million dollars in gold. A miner 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 189 

was said to have arrived in Pittsburgh with eighty 
thousand dollars in gold-dust that he had gathered 
in a few weeks. Whenever men met they discussed 
eagerly the one absorbing topic of the fortunes wait- 
ing on the coast. 

The adventurers who sailed around Cape Horn 
had in most cases the easiest voyages. There were 
plenty of veteran sea-captains ready to command the 
ships. A Boston merchant organized " The Mining 
and Trading Company," bought a full-rigged vessel, 
sold places in it to one hundred and fifty men, and 
sailed from Boston early in January, 1849. The first 
place at which she touched was Tierra del Fuego, 
and she reached Valparaiso late in April. There 
she found two ships from Baltimore, and in two days 
four more arrived from New York, and one from 
Boston. July 6th she entered the Golden Gate of 
San Francisco, and found it crowded with vessels 
from every port. The ships were all deserted, and 
within an hour all this ship's crew were on shore. 
The town itself was filled with bustle and noise. 
Gambling was practically the only business carried 
on, and the stores were jammed with men paying 
any price for outfits for the gold country. This 
company chose a place on the Mokelumne River, 
and hastened there, but they found it difficult to 
work on a company basis. The men soon scattered 
and drifted to other camps ; some of them found 
gold, others in time made their way east poorer 
than when they came. 



I90 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Those who went by the Isthmus had many adven- 
tures. Two hundred young men sailed to Vera 
Cruz, and landed at that quaint old Mexican city 
There they were told that bands of robbers were 
prowling all through the country, that their horses 
would die of starvation in the mountains, and that 
they would probably be killed, or lose themselves 
on the wild trail. Fifty of them decided not to go 
farther, and sailed back in a homeward-bound ship 
to New York. Those who went on were attacked 
by a mob at the town of Jalapa, and had to fight 
their way through at the point of revolvers. In 
several wild passes bandits tried to hold them up, 
but the Easterners put them to flight and pushed on 
their way. All through the country they found relics 
and wreckage of the recent days v/hen General Scott 
had marched an army into Mexico. 

There was more trouble at Mexico City. A re- 
ligious procession was passing along the plaza, and 
the Americans did not fall upon their knees. The 
crowd set upon them, and they had to form a square 
for their protection, and hold the mob at bay until 
Mexican officers came to their rescue. Only after 
fighting a path through other towns and a long 
march did they reach the seaport of San Bias. One 
hundred and twenty of them took ship from there to 
San Francisco. Thirty, however, had left the others 
at Mexico City, thinking they could reach the sea- 
coast more quickly by another route. The ship 
they caught could get no farther than San Diego. 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 191 

From there they had to march on foot across a 
blazing desert country. Their food gave out, and 
they lived on lizards, birds, rattlesnakes, and even 
buzzards, anything they could find. Worn and 
almost starving they reached San Francisco, ten 
months after they had left New York. Such ad- 
ventures were common to the American Argonauts 
of 1849. 

Those gold-seekers who went by the Isthmus of 
Panama had to stop at the litde settlement of Chagres, 
where one hundred huts of bamboo stood on the 
ruins of the old Spanish fort of San Lorenzo. The 
natives, lazy and half-clad, gazed in astonishment at 
the scores of men from the eastern United States, 
who suddenly began to hurry through their town. 
Here the gold-hunters bargained for river boats, 
which were usually rude dugouts, with roofs made of 
palmetto branches and leaves, and rowed by natives. 
It was impossible with such rowers to make much 
speed against the strong current of the Chagres 
River. Three days were required to make the jour- 
ney to Gorgona, where the travelers usually landed. 
At this place they had to bargain afresh for pack- 
mules to carry them the twenty-four miles that lay 
between Gorgona and Panama. Many men, who 
could not find any mules left in the town, deserted 
their baggage and started for the Pacific coast on 
foot. The chances were that no ship would be wait- 
ing for them there, and they would have to warm 
their heels in idleness for days. 



192 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

General Persifor F. Smith, who had been ordered 
to take command of the United States troops at 
San Francisco, was one of those who had to wait for 
a ship at Panama. Here he heard reports that a 
good deal of the new-found gold was being sent to 
foreign countries. Some said that the British Consul 
had forwarded fifteen thousand ounces of California 
gold to England, and that more than nine million 
francs' worth of the mineral had been received in the 
South American ports of Lima and Valparaiso. As 
a result hundreds of men from those ports were tak- 
ing ship to California. General Smith did not like the 
idea of foreigners profiting by the discovery of gold 
in California, and issued an order that only citizens 
of the United States should be allowed to enter the 
public lands where the diggings were located. When 
the California, a steamship from New York, reached 
Panama in January, 1849, with seventy-five Peru- 
vians on board, General Smith warned them that 
they would not be allowed to go to the mines, and 
sent word of this order to consuls along the Pacific 
coast of South America. In spite of his efforts, how- 
ever, foreigners would go to Upper California, and 
the American prospectors were too busy with their 
own searches to prevent the strangers from taking 
what gold they could find. 

When the California arrived at Panama she was 
already well filled with passengers, but there were 
so many men waiting for her that the captain had 
to give in to their demands, and crowd his vessel with 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 193 

several hundred more gold-seekers. Loaded with 
impatient voyagers, the steamship sailed up the 
coast, and reached San Francisco about the end of 
February. Immediately every one on board, except 
the captain, the mate, and the purser, deserted the 
ship, and dashed for the gold fields. The next 
steamer to reach Panama, the Oregon, found an even 
larger crowd waiting at that port. She took more 
passengers on board than she was intended to carry, 
but fortune favored the gold-seekers, and the Oregon^ 
like the California, discharged her adventurous cargo 
in safety at San Francisco. Hundreds of others who 
could not board either of these steamers ventured on 
the Pacific in small sailing vessels, or any manner of 
ship that would put out from Panama bound north. 
It is interesting to know the story of some of these 
pilgrimages. One of the Argonauts has told how he 
organized, in a little New England town, a company 
of twenty men. Each man subscribed a certain sum 
of money in return for a share in any profits, and in 
this way ten thousand dollars was raised. The men 
who were to go on the expedition signed a paper 
agreeing to work at least two years in the gold fields 
for the company. The band went from the New 
England town to New York, where they found the 
harbor filled with ships that were advertised to sail 
for Nicaragua, Vera Cruz, or Chagres. The leader 
of the company chose a little brig bound for the latter 
port, and in this the party, with some twenty-five 
other passengers, set sail in March. They ran into 



194 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

a heavy storm, but in three weeks reached the port 
on the Isthmus. There they had to wait some days, 
as all the river boats had gone up to Gorgona. 
When the boats were ready, thirty natives poled ten 
dugouts up the river. When the men landed they 
were told that there was no ship at Panama ; that 
half the gold-seekers in that town were ill, and that 
there was no use in pushing on. So the party built 
tents on the bank of the river, and stayed there until 
the rainy season drove them to the coast. There 
they camped again, and waited for a ship to arrive. 
There was one vessel anchored in the harbor, but the 
owner was under a bond to keep it there as a coal- 
ship. The leader of the company, however, per- 
suaded the owner to forfeit this bond, and four hun- 
dred waiting passengers paid two hundred dollars 
apiece to be conveyed to California. The ship was 
hardly seaworthy, and took seven weeks of sailing 
and floating to reach the harbor of Acapulco. There 
the vessel was greeted by a band of twenty Ameri- 
cans, ragged and penniless, who had come on foot 
from the City of Mexico. They had waited so long 
for a ship that twenty of the passengers agreed to 
give them their tickets, and take their places to wait 
until the next vessel should arrive. It was almost 
seven months after that New England party had left 
New York before they arrived at the Golden Gate of 
San Francisco. 

There was very little choice between the Panama 
and the Nicaragua routes to the West. Among those 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 195 

who tried the latter road were a number of young 
men who had just graduated from Yale College. 
They boarded a ship in New York that was adver- 
tised to sail during the first week in February, and 
expected to land in San Francisco in sixty days. It 
was March, however, before the ship, crowded with 
voyagers, set sail south from Sandy Hook. Three 
weeks brought her to the mouth of the San Juan 
River. The ship's company was landed at the 
little tropical town of San Juan de Nicaragua. 
A small steamboat had been brought along to 
take them up the river, but when the machinery 
was put together the boat was found to be 
worthless. Like the voyagers by Panama, these 
men then had to trust to native dugouts, and in this 
way they finally got up the river to San Carlos. 
Had it not been for their eagerness to reach Cali- 
fornia such a trip would have been a delight to men 
who had never seen the tropics before. The San 
Juan River flowed through forests of strange and 
beautiful trees. Tamarind and dyewood trees, tall 
palms, and giant cacti, festooned with bright-colored 
vines, made a background for the brilliant birds 
that flew through the woods. Fruit was to be had 
for the taking, and the weather at that time of the 
year was delightful. But the thought of the fortunes 
waiting to be picked up in California filled the minds 
of most of the travelers. 

After leaving the boats this party traveled by mule 
to Leon. Nicaragua was in the midst of a revolu- 



196 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

tion, and the Americans acted as a guard to the 
President on the road to Leon. Near the end of 
July the company separated. Some finally sailed 
from the port of Realejo, and after many dangers 
and a voyage of almost five months succeeded in 
reaching San Francisco. Others reached Panama, 
set sail in a small boat, and were never heard from 
again ; while yet a third party boarded a vessel at a 
Nicaraguan port, and managed to reach California 
after almost perishing from hunger and thirst. 

Such were the adventures of some of those who 
tried to reach the gold fields of the West by sea. 
Hundreds of men made the trip by one of these 
routes, and as soon as spring arrived thousands set 
out overland. It was understood that large parties 
would leave from western Missouri early in March, 
and as a result many men, some alone, some in 
bands of twenty or thirty, gathered there from all 
parts of the East. Sometimes they formed military 
companies, wore uniforms, and carried rifles. The 
main place of gathering was the town of Independ- 
ence, which grew to the size of a large city in a few 
weeks. Men came on foot and on horseback ; some 
with canvas-covered wagons, prairie schooners, and 
pack-mules ; some with herds of cattle ; some bring- 
ing with them all their household goods. All the 
Middle West seemed to be in motion. In a single 
week in March, 1849, hundreds of wagons drove 
through Burlington, Iowa. Two hundred from 
Memphis went along the Arkansas River, and hun- 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 197 

dreds more from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and 
Pennsylvania crossed the border of Iowa. 

The spring was late, and as the overland trip could 
not be taken until the grass was high enough to feed 
the cattle, the great company had to wait along the 
frontiers from Independence to Council Bluffs. As 
men gathered at these towns they would form into 
companies, and then move on to a more distant 
point, in order to make room for later arrivals. 
Twenty thousand gathered along these frontiers be- 
fore the signal was given to start westward. The 
march began about May ist, and from then on, day 
and night, scores of wagons crossed the Missouri 
River, and the country looked like a field of tents. 

From Independence most of the emigrants crossed 
rolling prairies for fifteen days to the Platte River at 
Grand Island. The route then wound up the valley 
of the Platte to the South Fork, and from there to the 
North Fork, where a rude post-ofifice had been built, 
at which letters might be left to be carried back east 
by any travelers who were going in that direction. 
From here the emigrants journeyed to the mountain 
passes. They usually stopped at Laramie, which 
was the farthest western fort of the United States. 
By this time the long journey would be telling on 
many of the companies, and the road be strewn with 
all sorts of household goods, thrown away in order 
to lighten the burden on the horses. 

At the South Pass, midway of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, two roads divided ; those who took the south- 



198 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

ern road traveled by the Great Salt Lake to the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains, and so into California. The 
northern road lay partly along the course of the 
Snake River to the headwaters of the Humboldt, 
and from there the emigrants might choose a path 
still farther to the north toward the Columbia River, 
or westward to the Sacramento. Many went by the 
trail along the Humboldt, although this route was 
one of the most difficult. " The river had no cur- 
rent," said one of the gold-hunters. '* No fish could 
live in its waters, which wound through a desert, and 
there was not enough wood in the whole valley to 
make a snuff-box, nor vegetation enough on its banks 
to shelter a rabbit. The stream flowed through 
desert sands, which the summer heat made almost 
unbearable for men and horses." Following its 
course the travelers came to a lake of mud, sur- 
rounded for miles by a sandy plain. Across this 
they had to march for thirty-four hours to reach the 
Carson River. Along the trail lay the bodies of 
horses, mules, and oxen, and broken wagons parched 
and dried out in the blazing sun. 

The first of the overland travelers who crossed the 
mountains late in the summer brought such reports 
to the officers at the Pacific posts that the latter 
decided that relief parties must be sent back to help 
those who were still toiling in the desert. It was 
known that some had been attacked by Indians, and 
obliged to leave their covered wagons ; that some 
had lost all their cattle, and were almost without 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 199 

food. Therefore relief parties were hurried into the 
mountains from the western side. They found the 
overland trail crowded with men on foot and in 
wagons. Many were sick, and almost all were 
hungry. One man carried a child in his arms, while 
a little boy trudged by his side, and his invahd wife 
rode on a mule The soldiers gave food to all who 
needed it, and urged them to push on to the army 
posts. Day after day they met the same stream of 
emigrants, all bent on reaching the golden fields of 
California. 

Late in the autumn, with winter almost at hand, 
the voyagers were still crossing the deserts and 
mountains. The soldiers could not induce many 
of them to throw away any of their goods. They 
crept along slowly, their wagons loaded from base- 
board to roof. The teams, gradually exhausted, 
began to fall, and progress was almost impossible. 
Then the rescuers hurried the women to near-by 
settlements, and forced the men to abandon some of 
their baggage in an eflfort to reach shelter before the 
winter storms should come. By the end of Novem- 
ber almost all the overland emigrants had crossed 
the mountains. 

The city of San Francisco had sprung up almost 
overnight. In 1835 a Captain Richardson had 
landed on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove, and 
built a hut of four redwood posts, covered by a 
sail. Five years afterward this village of Yerba 
Buena contained about fifty people and a dozen 



200 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

houses. In 1846 the American war-ship Portsmouth 
anchored there, and her captain raised the " Stars 
and Stripes" on the VX^ulq.. At that time there 
were not more than fifty houses and two hundred 
people. When the town became American the 
Plaza was renamed Portsmouth Square, and a year 
later the settlement was christened San Francisco. 
That was in January, 1847 ; and by midsummer 
of 1849 the town had become a city. It was an 
odd place to look at. The houses were made of 
rough unpainted boards, with cotton nailed across 
the walls and ceiling in place of plaster ; and many 
a thriving business was carried on in canvas tents. 
There were few homes. The city was crowded ; 
but most of the population did not intend to stay. 
They came to buy what they needed, or sell what 
they brought with them, and then hasten away 
to the mines. So many eager strangers naturally 
drove the prices up enormously, especially when it 
seemed as though gold could be had for the taking. 
The restaurants charged three dollars for a cup 
of coffee, a slice of ham, and two eggs. Houses 
and lots sold for from ten thousand to seventy- 
five thousand dollars each, and everything else 
was in proportion. What happened in San Fran- 
cisco also happened in many other California towns. 
Sacramento was the result of the gold-craze. Specu- 
lators bought large tracts of land in any attractive 
place, gave it a high-sounding name, and sold city 
lots. Many of these so-called cities, however, shriv- 




The Teams, Exhausted, Began to Fail 



THE GOLDEN DAYS OF 'FORTY-NINE 201 

eled up within a year or two. The seaports flour- 
ished because they were the gateways through 
which the newcomers passed in their rush to locate 
in the gold country. 

These seaports became the goal of merchants 
everywhere. Necessary articles were so scarce that 
they were shipped long distances. Flour was 
brought from Australia and Chili, rice and sugar 
from China, and the cities along the Atlantic pro- 
vided the dry-goods, the tools, and the furniture. 
At one time a cotton shirt would sell for forty 
dollars, a tin pan for nine, and a candle for three. 
But on the other hand cargoes of goods that were 
not needed, silks and satins, costly house-furnish- 
ings, were left on the beaches and finally sold for a 
song. 

From the seaports the new arrivals hurried either 
up the Sacramento and the Feather Rivers to the 
northern gold fields, or up the San Joaquin to the 
southern country. Usually they were guided by 
the latest story of a rich find, and went where 
the chances seemed best. Several men would join 
forces and pitch their tents together, naming their 
camp Rat-trap Slide, Rough and Ready Camp, 
Slap-jack Bar, Mad Mule Gulch, Git-up-and-Git, 
You Bet, or any other name that struck their fancy. 
There were no laws to govern these little settle- 
ments, and the men adopted a rough system of 
justice that suited themselves. But as the numbers 
increased it was evident that California must have a 



202 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

better form of government, and steps were taken to 
have that rich stretch of land along the Pacific 
admitted as a state to the United States. 

In three years California had grown from the 
home of about two thousand people to the home 
of eighty thousand. The finding of gold had 
changed that almost unknown wilderness into a 
thriving land in the twinkling of an eye. Rail- 
roads were built to reach it, and more and more 
men poured west. Some men made great fortunes, 
but more in a few months abandoned their claims 
and drifted to the cities, or made their way slowly 
back to the eastern farms and villages from which 
they had set out. The Forty-niners, as the gold- 
seekers were called, found plenty of adventure in 
California, even if they did not all find a short-cut to 
wealth. 



IX 

HOW THE UNITED STATES MADE 
FRIENDS WITH JAPAN 

One of the beautiful names that the Japanese 
have given to their country is " Land of Great 
Peace," and at no time was this name more appro- 
priate than in the middle of the nineteenth century. 
Two hundred years before the last of the civil 
wars of Japan had come to an end, and the people, 
weary of years of bloodshed, had turned delightedly 
to peaceful ways. The rice-fields were replanted, 
artisans returned to their crafts, shops opened again, 
and poets and painters followed the call of their 
arts. The samurai, or warriors, sheathed their 
swords, though they still regarded them as their 
very souls. They hung their armor in their an- 
cestral halls, and spent their time in sport or idle- 
ness. The daimios, or nobles of Japan, lived either 
in the city of Yedo or at their country houses, 
taking their ease, and gradually forgetting the arts 
of war on which their power had been founded. 
All the people were quite contented, and had no 
desire to trade with the rest of the world. As a 
matter of fact they knew almost nothing about 
other countries, except through English or Russian 



204 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

sailors who occasionally landed on their coasts. 
Japan was satisfied to be a hermit nation. 

On the afternoon of the seventh day of July, 
1853, or the third day of the sixth month of Kayei, 
in the reign of the Emperor Komei, the farmers 
working in the muddy rice-fields near the village of 
Uraga saw a strange sight. It was a clear summer 
afternoon, and the beautiful mountain Fuji, its cone 
wreathed in white clouds, could be seen from sea 
and shore. What startled the men in the fields, 
the people in the village, and the boatmen in the 
harbor, was a fleet of vessels coming to anchor 
in the bay of Yedo. These monsters, with their 
sails furled, although they were heading against 
the wind, were shooting tongues of smoke from 
their great black throats. " See the fire-vessels ! " 
cried the Japanese to each other. When the peas- 
ants asked the priests where the monsters came 
from the wise men answered that they were the 
fire-vessels of the barbarians who lived in the 
West. 

The monsters were four ships of the United States 
navy, the Mississippi, Susquehannay Plymouth, and 
Saratoga, all under command of Commodore Mat- 
thew Calbraith Perry. The fleet dropped anchor in 
the wide bay, forming a line broadside to the shore. 
The gun-ports were opened, and sentries set to 
guard against attack by pirates, or by fire-junks. 
As the anchors splashed in the water rockets shot 
up from one of the forts on shore signaling to the 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 205 

court at Yedo that the barbarians had reached 
Japan, 

The town of Uraga was usually not a very busy 
place, and the government officers spent their time 
drinking tea, smoking, and lounging in the sun, and 
occasionally collecting custom duties from junks 
bound to other harbors. But there was a great bus- 
tle on the day the strange ships arrived. The chief 
magistrate, or bunio, his interpreter, and suite of at- 
tendants, put on their formal dress of hempen cloth, 
and fastened their lacquered ornamented hats to their 
heads ; with two swords in each belt, the party 
marched to the shore and boarded their state barge. 
Twelve oarsmen rowed it to the nearest foreign ship, 
but when they tried to fasten ropes to the vessel so 
that they might go on board, the barbarians threw 
off the ropes, and gestured to them to keep away. 

The Japanese officer was surprised to find that, 
although he was gorgeously robed, and his compan- 
ions carried spears and the Tokugawa trefoil flag, 
the barbarians were not at all impressed. They told 
him, through an interpreter, that their commander 
wished to confer with the governor himself. The 
officer answered that the governor was not allowed 
to board foreign ships. After some further discus- 
sion the surprised Japanese was permitted to climb 
the gangway ladder and meet the barbarians on the 
deck of their vessel. 

Commodore Perry knew that the Japanese loved 
mystery, high-sounding names, and ceremonies, and 



2o6 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

so he stayed in his cabin and would not show him- 
self to the visitors. A secretary carried his messages, 
and explained that the mysterious commodore had 
come on a friendly mission and bore a letter from the 
President of the United States to the Emperor of 
Japan, which he wished to present with all proper 
ceremony. He declined to go to Nagasaki, and in- 
sisted that he should remain in Yedo Bay, and 
added that although his visit was entirely friendly, 
he would not allow any inquisitive sightseers to 
prowl about his fleet. Very much impressed with 
the power of this hidden barbarian, the Japanese 
officer immediately ordered all the small boats, the 
punts and sampans that had gathered about the 
fleet, to row away. 

The officer and his body-guard returned to shore, 
and told the villagers that the visitors were very re- 
markable men, who were not at all impressed by 
their costumes or weapons. The Japanese had no 
such title as commodore in their language, and they 
referred to Perry as Admiral, and credited him with 
almost as much majesty as their own hidden Mikado, 
or as the mighty Shogun. 

The western coast of Japan was much excited that 
night. Rockets from the forts, and huge watch-fires 
on the cliffs, told the whole country that a most un- 
usual event had happened. The peasants set out 
their sacred images, and prayed to them as they had 
not done in years. It was evident that the gods of 
Japan were punishing the people for their neglect by 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 207 

sending these great fire-vessels to disturb the coast. 
To add to the general excitement a wonderful light 
appeared in the sky about midnight, spreading a 
pale red and blue path across the heavens, as though 
a dragon were flying through space. Priests and 
soothsayers made the most of this display of North- 
ern Lights, and pointed out that the fire-vessels, 
clearly revealed in the harbor, must have something 
to do with the strange omen. 

The governor of Uraga himself, with a retinue of 
servants, all clad in embroidered gowns and lac- 
quered helmets, and each carrying two swords, went 
out to the flag-ship next morning. He had evidently 
overlooked the fact that the barbarians had been told 
on the day before that the governor could not pay 
such a visit to their fleet. The governor was used 
to being received with a great deal of attention, and 
to having people bow to the ground as he went by ; 
but on the deck of the Susquehanna the sailors 
looked at him with simple curiosity, and when he 
asked to speak with the mysterious admiral, he was 
told that he would only be allowed to speak with the 
captains. These men said that their commander 
would only wait three days for an answer from Yedo 
as to whether the Mikado would receive the letter of 
the President. They showed him the magnificent 
box that held the letter, and the governor's curiosity 
grew even greater. When he left the flag-ship he 
had promised to urge the Americans* cause. 

Next day, the men dressed in silk and brocade. 



208 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

painted helmets, and gleaming sashes, eager to visit 
the ships again, were surprised to learn that the bar- 
barian prince would transact no business. His in- 
terpreter declared that it was a day of religious ob- 
servance, known as Sunday. The people on shore 
heard the sailors of the fleet singing hymns, a strange 
sound in those waters. Hastily the Japanese offered 
new presents at the shrines of their own gods to en- 
sure protection from the barbarians. 

By now the hermit people thought they might 
have to guard themselves, and began to build earth- 
works along the shore. Farmers, fishermen, shop- 
keepers, women, and children were pressed into 
service. Rude embankments were thrown up, and 
enormously heavy brass cannon were placed at open- 
ings. The old samurai, who had almost forgotten 
warfare, sought out their weapons, and gathered 
their troops. Their armor consisted of jackets of 
silk, iron and paper. Their arms were old match- 
locks and spears. They could have fought each 
other, but they were several hundred years behind 
the barbarians in military matters. On the hills they 
set up canvas tents, with flags bearing flaming 
dragons and the other emblems of their clans. In 
the days of their civil wars bright-colored trappings 
had played an important part. 

Yedo was then the chief city of Japan. When 
Perry arrived in 1853 it was the home of the Shogun 
lyeyoshi, who was the real ruler of the land, although 
the Mikado was called the sovereign. Yedo had 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 209 

been the home of a long line of Shoguns of the 
Tokugawa family who had ruled the country, calling 
themselves " Tycoons." They had built up the city, 
and filled it with palaces and temples that had never 
been equaled in magnificence. The people of Yedo, 
numbering over a million, were greatly excited when 
they heard of the fleet of war-ships lying in their 
great bay. The Shogun, his courtiers and his war- 
riors bestirred themselves at once. Soldiers were 
summoned, armor polished, swords unsheathed, 
castles repaired, and everything possible done to 
make an impression on the strangers. 

The chief men knew that they could not oppose 
this foreign admiral. Once they had had war- 
vessels of their own, but years of peace had reduced 
their navy, and they could not defend their coasts. 
The Shogun was afraid that the admiral might insist 
upon seeing the Mikado at Ki5to, and that would be 
a great blow to his own dignity. After hours of 
debate and discussion he chose two daimios to 
receive the letter of the American President, Millard 
Fillmore, and sent word to all coast towns to man 
their forts. 

Perry had played the game well, and so far had 
allowed no Japanese to see him. He wanted to 
make a treaty with Japan, and he knew that to suc- 
ceed he must impress this Oriental people with his 
dignity. He allowed his captains and two daimios 
to arrange a meeting to be held at a little town 
called Kurihima, near the port of Uraga. Each 



2IO HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

side had tried to outdo the other in politeness. The 
American captains had received the Japanese officers 
with great respect, had served them wines, and seated 
them in upholstered armchairs. The Japanese 
regretted that they could not provide their guests 
with armchairs or with wine on shore, but the visitors 
assured them that they would be willing to adopt 
Japanese customs. 

By July 13th the scene for the meeting was ready. 
Hundreds of yards of canvas, with the Tokugawa 
trefoil, had been stretched along the road to Kurihama. 
Hundreds of retainers, clad in all the colors of their 
feudal days, were gathered about the tents, and on 
the beach stood as many soldiers, glittering in their 
lacquered armor. The American officers were al- 
most as brilliantly dressed as the Japanese. They 
wore coats with a great many bright brass buttons, 
and curious shaped hats cocked on their heads. 
They brought musicians with them who played on 
cornets and drums, and the music was quite unlike 
anything the natives had ever heard before. Three 
hundred of the barbarians landed and marched 
from the beach to the main tent, while the eager-eyed 
people lined the road and wondered at their strange 
appearance. 

Two or three big sailors carried the American 
flag, and back of them came two boys with the 
mysterious red box that had been shown to the 
officers of the port. Back of them marched the 
great commodore, clad in full uniform, and on either 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 211 

side of him strode a black man armed with a large 
sabre. Many of the Japanese had never seen a white 
man before, and still fewer had ever looked upon a 
negro. They were therefore very much impressed 
by the procession. 

The officers of the Shogun received their magnifi- 
cent visitor at the door of the pavilion. After greet- 
ings the two boys handed the box to the negro 
guards, who opened the scarlet cloth envelope and the 
gold-hinged rosewood cases, and laid the President's 
letter on a lacquered stand brought from Yedo. 
A receipt for the President's letter was then handed 
to the commodore, who said that he would return to 
Japan the next spring, probably in April or May. 
The meeting lasted half an hour, and then, with the 
same pomp and ceremony, the Americans returned 
to their ships. 

For eight days the fleet remained in the bay. 
One party of sailors landed, but made no trouble, 
and was actually so polite that the people offered 
them refreshments of tea and fruit. At close range 
the barbarians were not so terrifying as the natives 
had thought them at first, and when they embarked 
for their fleet the people urged them to come back 
again. On July 17th the war-ships steamed away, 
leaving the cliffs covered with people, who gazed in 
astonishment at vessels that had no canvas spread, 
but were driven entirely by fire. 

Perry's object in visiting Japan was to obtain a 
treaty that would allow trade relations between the 



212 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

United States and this hermit nation^ He wanted to 
give the Japanese people time to consider President 
Fillmore's letter, and so he planned to keep his 
squadron in Eastern waters until the following 
spring, when he would return to learn the result of 
his mission at Yedo. There was much of interest to 
him in China, and he spent the autumn and part of 
the winter making charts of that coast, and visiting 
ports where American merchants were already 
established. 

Meantime the letter of the American President had 
caused great excitement in Japan. Almost as soon 
as Perry left a messenger was sent to the Shinto 
priests at the shrines of Ise to offer prayers for the 
peace of the empire, and to urge that the barbarians 
be swept away. A week later the Shogun lyeyoshi 
died, and left the government at odds as to what to do. 

Some of the daimios remembered the military 
ardor of their ancestors, and wanted to fight the 
barbarians, rather than make a treaty with them. 
Others thought that it would be madness to oppose 
an enemy who had such powerful ships that they 
could capture all the Japanese junks, and destroy 
the coast cities. One powerful nobleman declared 
that it would be well for Japan to meet the barbarians, 
and learn from them how to build ships and lead 
armies, so that they would be able in time to defeat 
them at their own arts. The Mikado had little to do 
in the discussion. The actual ruler was the new 
Shogun lyesada, son of the former Shogun. 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 213 

While Commodore Perry was cruising along the 
coast of China he heard that French and Russian 
merchants were planning to visit Japan. He was 
afraid that his country might lose the benefits of his 
visit unless he could obtain a treaty before these 
other countries did. Therefore, although a mid- 
winter cruise to Japan was difficult and dangerous, 
he determined to risk this and return at once. 
Four ships set sail for Yedo Bay February i, 1854, 
and a week later the commodore followed with 
three others. 

In the city of Yedo the new Shogun was very busy 
preparing either for peace or war. A long line of 
forts was hurriedly built on the edge of the bay in 
front of the city. Thousands of laborers were kept 
at work there, a great number of cannon were cast, 
and shops worked day and night turning out guns 
and ammunition. An old law had directed that all 
vessels of a certain size were to be burned, and only 
small coasting junks built. This law was repealed, 
and all the rich daimios hurriedly built warships. 
These ships flew a flag representing a red sun on a 
white background, and this later became the national 
flag of Japan, A native who had learned artillery 
from the Dutch was put in charge of the soldiers; 
old mediaeval methods of fighting were abandoned, 
and artillery that was somewhat like that of Euro- 
pean countries was adopted. 

In spite of all this bustle and preparation, how- 
ever, the Shogun and his advisers thought it would 



214 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

be wisest for them to agree to a treaty with the 
United States. Therefore a notice was issued on 
December 2, 1853, which stated that " owing to want 
of mihtary efficiency, the Americans would, on their 
return, be dealt with peaceably." At the same time 
the old practice of Fumi-ye, which consisted in 
trampling on the cross and other emblems of Chris- 
tianity, and which had been long practiced in the 
city of Nagasaki, was abolished. 

Some men in the country were insisting that the 
time had come for the Japanese to visit the West, 
and learn the new arts and trades. One of these 
was a scholar, Sakuma, who urged the government 
to send Japanese youths to Europe to learn ship- 
building and navigation. The Shogun did not ap- 
prove of this idea ; but a pupil of the scholar, named 
Yoshida Shoin, heard of it, and decided to go abroad 
by himself. Sakuma gave him money for his ex- 
penses, and advised him how he might get passage 
on one of the American ships, when the fleet should 
return to Japan. 

As soon as the Shogun learned that Commodore 
Perry was about to return he chose Hayashi, the 
chief professor of Chinese in the university, to serve 
as interpreter. The Americans had used Chinese 
scholars in their communications with the Japanese, 
and Haylishi was a man of great learning and courtly 
manners. The Shogun also found a native who 
understood English, although the Americans did 
not know this. This man, Nakahama Manjiro, with 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 215 

two companions, had been picked up at sea by an 
American captain, and taken to the United States, 
where he obtained a good education. He and his 
two mates then decided that they would return to 
their native land, and went to Hawaii, where they 
built a whale-boat, and then sailed for the coast of 
China on board an American merchantman. In 
time the wanderers reached home, and when the 
Shogun heard of Manjiro's travels he made him a 
samurai, or wearer of two swords. The whale-boat 
that he had built was used as a model for others, 
and the traveler taught his friends some of the knowl- 
edge of the Western people. 

On February 11, 1854, the watchmen on the hills 
of Idzu saw the American fleet approaching. Two 
days later the great war-ships of the barbarians 
steamed up the bay. The seven vessels dropped 
anchor not far from Yokosuka, and the captain of 
the flag-ship received visits from the governor and 
his interpreters. Again the same exaggerated forms 
of politeness were observed, and presents of many 
kinds, fruits, wines, and confectionery, were ex- 
changed. The Japanese suggested that Perry should 
land and meet them at Kamakura or Uraga, but the 
commodore replied, through his captain, that he 
should stay where he was until the Japanese had 
decided what they would do. He gave them until 
February 21st to decide about the treaty. 

Boats were sent out from the fleet daily to make 
surveys of the bay, but none of the crews were 



2i6 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

allowed to land. At length the Japanese stated that 
they were ready to treat with the American officers, 
and Captain Adams was sent to Uraga to inspect 
the place where the fleet was to anchor, and the new 
building in which the treaty was to be signed. The 
captain, with his aides, entered the hall of reception, 
and was met by a daimio named Izawa. The daimio 
was fond of joking. After many polite greetings 
Captain Adams handed the nobleman a note from 
Commodore Perry. Izawa took out his great spec- 
tacles, but before he put them on he folded up his 
large fan with a loud snap. The Americans, alarmed 
at the noise, clapped their hands to their revolvers. 
Izawa could not help laughing at their confusion, 
but quickly adjusted his spectacles, and after read- 
ing the note, said that he was much gratified at 
the commodore's greeting. Rice and tea, cake and 
oranges were served the guests. A long argument 
followed. Captain Adams said that the building 
was large enough for simple talking, but not for the 
display of presents ; and that Commodore Perry 
would much rather go to the city of Yedo. The 
Japanese answered that they much preferred that 
the meeting should take place at Uraga or Kana- 
gawa. The debate, carried on through Chinese in- 
terpreters, was a lengthy one. 

Two days later the commodore moved his fleet 
ten miles farther up the bay. From here his crews 
could see the great temple-roofs, castles, and pagodas 
of Yedo itself, and could hear the bells in the city 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 217 

towers. This advance of the fleet convinced the 
Shogun that Perry meant to go to Yedo. Some of 
his court had thought that it would be a national 
disgrace if the barbarians were permitted to enter 
that city, but the government now decided to yield 
the point, and suggested a place direcdy opposite, 
at Yokohama, for the place of treaty. 

No such scene had ever been witnessed in the 
hermit land of Japan as the one that took place there 
on the morning of March 8, 1854. The bay of Yedo 
was covered with great state barges and junks with 
many-colored sails. On shore were hundreds of 
soldiers, the servants of the great daimios, dressed 
in the gorgeous costumes of earlier centuries. Held 
back by ropes were thousands of country people who 
had gathered from all over that part of Japan to see 
the strange men from the West. Everywhere was 
color. Tents, banners, houses, and the costumes of 
men, women and children blazed with it. The 
American sailors in all their voyages in the East 
had never seen such a brilliant picture. 

Perry was not to be outdone. His men left the 
ships to the noise of cannon that echoed and re- 
echoed along the shore. Twenty-seven boats brought 
five hundred men, and as soon as they landed 
the marines formed a hollow square, while three 
bands played martial music. The great commodore, 
now looked upon by the Japanese with awe, em- 
barked from the Powhatan in his white gig ; more 
guns were fired ; more flags waved ; and with great 



2i8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

pomp, Perry landed on the beach. His object was 
to impress the hermit people with the dignity of his 
nation. 

A number of meetings followed before the treaty 
was completed. The Americans insisted that vessels 
in need of wood, coal, water, or provisions should be 
allowed to get them from shore, and that the Japa- 
nese should care for shipwrecked sailors. They 
also wanted the two ports, Shimoda and Hakodate, 
opened to them. The Japanese were willing, pro- 
vided they would not travel inland farther than they 
could return the same day, a.nd that no American 
women should be brought into the country. But 
when the Japanese objected to the arrival of women, 
Commodore Perry threw back his cloak and ex- 
claimed, " Great heavens, if I were to permit any 
such stipulation as that in the treaty, when I got 
home the women would pull out all the hairs of my 
head ! " The Japanese were surprised at Perry's 
excitement, thinking that they must have offended 
him greatly. When the interpreters explained what 
he had actually said, however, both sides laughed 
and continued peacefully. They grew more and 
more friendly as the meetings progressed. They 
dined together and exchanged gifts. The Ameri- 
cans liked the sugared fruits, candied nuts, crabs, 
prawns, and fish that the Japanese served in 
different forms, while the hermit people developed 
a great fondness for the puddings and cham- 
pagne the Americans offered them. When it 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 219 

came to gifts, the eyes of the Japanese opened wide 
at the many surprising things the barbarians had in- 
vented. They were delighted with the rifles, the 
clocks, the stoves, the sewing-machines, the model 
of a steam locomotive, and the agricultural tools, 
scales, maps, and charts that Perry had brought to 
the Mikado. These presents were to open the 
minds of the Japanese to the march of progress in 
the rest of the world ; and to teach them the uses of 
steam and electricity, the printing-press, newspapers, 
and all the other inventions that were products of 
Europe and America. 

In exchange, the art-loving people of Japan gave 
their visitors beautiful works in bronze, lacquer, 
porcelain, bamboo, ivory, silk, and paper, and great 
swords, spears and shields, wonderfully inlaid and 
decorated, that were handed down from their feudal 
days. 

While the fleet stayed Japanese spy-boats kept 
watch in the bay, to see that their young men did 
not board the foreign ships in their desire to see 
something of the world. Time and again the young 
Yoshida Shoin and a friend tried to break through the 
blockade, but every time they were sent back to shore. 
At last the two left Yedo for the port of Shimoda. 

The Americans set up telegraph poles, and laid 
rails to show the working of the model locomotive. 
They gave an exhibition of the steam-engine. This 
caused great excitement in the country near Yedo, 
and every one who could went to see the strange 



220 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

performance. Already there was a struggle between 
those who were eager to learn the inventions of the 
Americans, and those who were afraid that the new 
ideas would spoil old Japan. Many an ambitious 
youth stared at the Mikado's presents, and tried to 
learn more of their secrets from the sailors on their 
way to or from the fleet. 

The treaty was signed on March 31, 1854, and 
agreed that shipwrecked sailors should be cared for, 
provisions needed by ships should be obtained in the 
ports, and American vessels allowed to anchor in the 
two harbors of Shimoda and Hakodate. Actual trade 
was not yet allowed, nor were Americans to be per- 
mitted to reside in Japan. The hermit nation was 
not at all eager to enter into competition with other 
countries, nor to allow foreigners to trade with her. 
Commodore Perry knew, however, that even the 
slight terms he had gained would prove the beginning 
of the opening up of Japan to the rest of the world. 

April 18, 1854, Perry left the bay of Yedo for 
Shimoda, and there the fleet stayed until early in 
May. While the squadron was there two Americans, 
who were botanizing on land, met the youth Yoshida 
vShoin and his friend. The young Japanese gave the 
Americans a letter, but seeing some native ofificers 
approaching, he and his friend stole away. A few 
nights later the watch on the war-ship Mississippi 
heard voices calling, " Americans, Americans ! " 
They found the two Japanese youths in a small boat, 
and took them on board. Paper and writing ma- 



THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 221 

terials were found hidden in their clothes, and they 
explained that they wanted to go with the fleet to 
America, and write down what they saw there. The 
commodore, however, felt that he was in honor 
bound to send the two young men back to their 
homes ; and did so. Yoshida later came to be one 
of the leaders of the new Japan that ended the long 
line of Shogun rulers, and made the Mikado the 
actual emperor. 

The fleet cruised from one port to another, now 
well received by the people, who had forgotten their 
fear of the barbarians' fire-vessels. The governors of 
the different provinces gave presents to Perry, among 
them blocks of native stone to be used in building 
the great obelisk that was rising on the banks of the 
Potomac River in memory of Washington. On July 
17th the last of the squadron left Napa for Hong 
Kong. 

The Americans had shown the Japanese that they 
were a friendly people, with no desire to harm them. 
A race that had lived shut off from the rest of the 
world for so many centuries was naturally timid and 
fearful of strange people. From time to time Euro- 
pean ships had landed in Japan, and almost every 
time the sailors had done injury to the natives. 
Perry, however, convinced them that the United 
States was a friend, and the treaty, slight though its 
terms were, marked the dawn of a new era in Japan. 
Like the sleeping princess, she woke at the touch of 
a stranger from overseas. 



X 

THE PIG THAT ALMOST CAUSED 
A WAR 

Off the far northwestern corner of the United 
States lie a number of small islands scattered along 
the strait that separates the state of Washington 
from Vancouver Island. One of these goes by the 
name of San Juan Island, a green bit of land some 
fifteen miles long and seven wide. The northern 
end rises into hills, while the southern part is covered 
with rich pastures. In the hills are coal and lime- 
stone, and along the shore is splendid cod, halibut, 
and salmon fishing. In the year 1859 a farmer 
named Hubbs pastured his sheep at the southern 
end of San Juan, and had for a neighbor to the 
north a man in the employ of the English Hudson's 
Bay Company, whose business it was to raise pigs. 
The pigs throve on San Juan, and following their 
fondness for adventure left Mr. Griffiths' farm and 
overran the whole island. Day after day Hubbs 
would find the pigs grubbing in his pasture, and 
finally in a moment of anger he warned his neigh- 
bor that he would kill the next pig that came on his 
land. Griffiths heard the warning, but evidently the 
pigs did not, for the very next day one of them 



THE PIG THAT ALMOST CAUSED A WAR 223 

crossed the boundary line and ventured into Mr. 
Hubbs' field. Here it began to enjoy itself in a 
small vegetable patch that Mr. Hubbs had planted. 
As soon as he saw the trespasser Hubbs went for his 
gun, and returning with it, shot the intruding pig. 

When Griffiths found his dead pig he was as angry 
as Hubbs had been, and he immediately set out in 
his sailboat and crossed the strait to Victoria, a lit- 
tle city on Vancouver Island, where officers of the 
British Government had their headquarters. He 
stated his case, and obtained a warrant of arrest for 
his neighbor Hubbs. Then he sailed back to San 
Juan with the constable, and going to his neighbor's 
house read the warrant to him. Hubbs indignantly 
replied that he was an American citizen, and did not 
have to obey the order of the English officer. There- 
upon the constable left the house, vowing that he 
would return with a force of men and compel the 
farmer to obey him. 

Mr. Hubbs was a shrewd man, and believed that 
the constable would be as good as his word. As 
soon as he had left Hubbs therefore sent a note to 
Port Townsend, which was in Washington Territory, 
asking the United States officers there to protect him 
from arrest for killing his neighbor's pig. When he 
received the note General William S. Harney, who 
was in command, ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Casey 
to take a company of soldiers and camp on San Juan 
Island to protect Mr. Hubbs. 

Now that thoughtless pig had actually lighted a 



224 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

fuse that threatened to lead to a very serious explo- 
sion. As it happened San Juan lay near the middle 
of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and commanded both 
shores. The people at Victoria could see the Amer- 
ican soldiers setting out in their boats from Port 
Townsend, and landing on the green island. So 
long as it had been the home of a few farmers San 
Juan had caused little concern, but now that troops 
were camping upon it it presented quite a different 
look. Victoria was all excitement. The governor, 
Sir James Douglas, heard the news first, and then 
Admiral Prevost, who was in command of some 
English war-ships anchored in the little bay near the 
city. The admiral was very angry and threatened 
to blow the Yankees off the island. He gave orders 
to move his fleet to one of the harbors of San Juan, 
and his cannon were ready to fire shot over the 
peaceful fields, where sheep and pigs had divided 
possession. Sir James Douglas, the governor, how- 
ever, was a more peaceful man. He persuaded the 
admiral not to be in a hurry, but suggested that it 
would be wise to have a company of British regulars 
camp somewhere on San Juan. This would serve as 
a warning to the United States troops. Accordingly 
Captain Delacombe was sent over, and pitched his 
tents on the northern end of the island that belonged 
to the Hudson's Bay Company. 

As a result of the pig having trespassed in Mr. 
Hubbs' vegetable patch, the flag of the United 
States flew above the tents on the southern part of 



THE PIG THAT ALMOST CAUSED A WAR 225 

San Juan, and the British flag over the tents on the 
northern end. Mr. Hubbs was left in peace, and Mr. 
Griffiths went on raising pigs ; but the people in 
Victoria shook their fists across the strait at the peo- 
ple in Port Townsend, and in each of those cities 
there was a great deal of talk about war. The talk 
was mostly done by men who had nothing to do with 
the army. The soldiers on the little island soon be- 
came the best of friends, and spent their time in field 
sports and giving dinner-parties to each other. 

No part of the boundary line of the United States 
has given more trouble than that in the northwest. 
The Hudson's Bay Company had once claimed prac- 
tically all of what was known as Oregon Territory 
for England, but after Marcus Whitman brought his 
pioneers westward the Hudson's Bay Company 
gradually withdrew, and left the southern part of that 
land to the United States. For forty years the two 
countries had disputed about the line of division, and 
the political party that was led by Stephen A. Doug- 
las had taken as its watchword, " Fifty-four, forty, — 
or fight 1 " which meant that unless the United States 
should get all the land up to the southern line of 
Alaska, they would go to war with England. For- 
tunately President Polk was not so grasping, and 
the boundary was finally settled in 1846 on latitude 
forty-nine degrees. That was a clear enough bound- 
ary for most of the northwest country, but when one 
came close to the Pacific the coast grew ragged, and 
was dotted with little islands. Vancouver was by 



226 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the treaty to belong to England, and the agreement 
said that the boundary at this corner should be " the 
middle of the channel." Now it happened that San 
Juan and its small neighbors lay midway between 
the two shores, and the treaty failed to say which 
channel was meant, the one on the American or the 
one on the British side of San Juan. 

As a matter of fact this question of the channel 
was very important for the British. It would lead 
them to the coast of Canada, or the United States to 
Alaska. The one to the west, called the Canal de 
Haro, was much straighter than the other, and deep 
enough for the largest war-ships. Naturally the 
United States wanted the boundary to run through 
this channel, and the British equally naturally 
wanted the boundary to run through the opposite 
channel, called Rosario Strait, because midway be- 
tween lay the little island, which would make a 
splendid fortress, and might prevent the passage of 
ships in case of war between the two nations. So 
long as the islands were simply pasture lands the 
question of ownership was only a matter for debate, 
but when the pig was killed, and the troops of both 
countries camped on San Juan the question became 
a much more vital one. 

News of what had happened on San Juan was 
sent to Washington and to London ; and General 
Winfield Scott hurried by way of Panama to Mr. 
Hubbs' farm. He found that all the United States 
troops on that part of the coast that^ could be 



THE PIG THAT ALMOST CAUSED A WAR 227 

spared had been crowded on to the southern part of 
the island. This seemed unnecessary, and General 
Scott agreed with Sir James Douglas that only one 
company of United States and one of British soldiers 
should stay in camp there. The little island thus 
became the scene of what was known as " a joint 
military occupation." In the meantime there were 
many lengthy meetings at Washington and London, 
and the two countries decided that they would leave 
the difficult question of the boundary line to arbitra- 
tion. So the statesmen at Washington drew up 
papers to prove that the right line lay in the middle 
of the Canal de Haro, and statesmen at London 
drew up other papers to show that the correct line 
was through the middle of Rosario Strait, which 
would give them San Juan and allow their ships to 
sail in perfect safety between the islands and the 
Vancouver shore. The statesmen and lawyers took 
their time about this, while the soldiers amused them- 
selves fishing for cod and salmon, and the farmers 
cared for their sheep and pigs as peacefully as in the 
days before Hubbs had shot Griffiths' pig. 

After some time the two nations decided to ask 
the Emperor of Germany to decide the question of 
the boundary line. The Emperor appointed three 
learned men to determine the question for him. 
They listened to the arguments of both sides, and 
after much study made their report to the Emperor, 
who gave his decision on October 23, 1872, and 
handed a copy of it to Mr. Bancroft for the United 



228 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

States, and to Lord Odo Russell for England. His 
decision was that the claim of the United States was 
correct, and that the middle of the Canal de Haro 
should be the boundary of that northwestern corner. 
This gave San Juan to the United States, much to 
the disappointment of the people of Vancouver 
Island, who knew that a fort on that little strip of 
land could control all navigation through the Strait 
of Juan de Fuca. One month after the decision was 
given the British troops cut down their flagstaff on 
the northern end and left San Juan. 

San Juan lies opposite the city of Victoria, which 
has grown to be one of the largest ports of British 
Columbia. Instead of lessening in importance the 
island has grown in value, because that part of the 
country has filled up rapidly, and both sides of the 
line are more and more prosperous. The question 
of who should own San Juan would have been de- 
cided some day, but it was that prowling pig that 
brought matters to a head, and for a few weeks at 
least threatened to draw two countries into war. On 
such slight happenings (although in this case it was 
a very serious matter for the pig) often hang the fates 
of nations if we trace history back to the spark that 
fired the fuse. 



XI 
JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 

In the days when Kansas was the battle-ground 
between those men who upheld negro slavery, and 
those who attacked it, a man named John Brown 
went from the east to that territory. Several of his 
sons had already gone into Kansas, and had sent 
him glowing accounts of it. Many New England 
families were moving west by 1855, and building 
homes for themselves on the splendid rolling prairies 
across the Mississippi. John Brown, however, went 
with another purpose. The years had built up in 
him such a hatred for negro slavery that it filled his 
whole thoughts. Kansas was the field where slave- 
owners and abolitionists, or those who opposed 
slavery, were to fight for the balance of power. 
Therefore he went to Kansas and made his home in 
the lowlands along the eastern border, near a region 
that the Indians had named the Swamp of the Swan. 

There were a great many men in Kansas at that 
time who had no real convictions in regard to slavery, 
and to whom the question was one of politics, and 
not of religion, as it was to John Brown. Those were 
days of warfare on the border, and men from the 
south and the north were constandy clashing, fight- 



230 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

ing for the upper hand in the government, and taking 
every possible advantage of each other. Five of 
John Brown's sons had already settled in Kansas 
when he came there with a sick son and a son-in-law. 
Early in October, 1855, they reached the home of the 
pioneers. They found the houses very primitive, 
small log shanties, the walls plastered with mud. 
The father joined his boys in getting in their hay, 
and set traps in the woods to secure game for food. 
But trouble was brewing in the town of Lawrence, 
which was the leading city of Kansas. Word come 
to the Swamp of the Swan that men who favored 
slavery were marching on the town, intending to 
drive out the free-state Northerners there. This was 
a direct caJl to John Brown to take the field. His 
family set to w^ork preparing com bread and meat, 
blankets and cooking utensils, running bullets, and 
loading guns. Then five of the men set out for 
Lawrence, which was reached at the end of a twenty- 
four hours' march. 

The town of Lawrence, a collection of many 
rude log houses, was filled with crowds of excited 
men and women. John Brown, looking like a 
patriarch with his long hair and beard, arrived at 
sundown, accompanied by his stalwart sons armed 
with guns and pistols. He was at once put in 
charge of a company, and set to w^ork fortifying 
the town with earthworks, and preparing for a 
battle. In a day or two, however, an agreement 
was reached between the free-state and the slave-state 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 231 

parties, and immediate danger of warfare disap- 
peared. Satisfied with this outcome, Brown and 
his sons took to the road again, and marched back 
to their home. There they stayed during the next 
winter. In the cold of the long ice-bound months, 
the passions of men lay dormant. But with the 
coming of spring the old feud smouldered afresh. 

Bands of armed men from the South arrived in 
Kansas, and one from Georgia came to camp near 
the Brown settlement on the Swamp of the Swan. 
On a May morning John Brown and four of his 
sons walked over to the new camp to learn the 
Georgians* plans. He had some surveying instru- 
ments with him, and the newcomers took him 
for a government surveyor and therefore a slave 
man, for almost every official that was sent into 
Kansas held the Southern views. Pretending to be 
a surveyor, the father directed his sons to busy 
themselves in making a section line through the 
camp. The men from Georgia looked on, talking 
freely. Presently one of them said : " We've come 
here to stay. We won't make no war on them 
as minds their own business ; but all the Abo- 
litionists, such as them Browns over there, we're 
going to whip, drive out, or kill, — any way to 
get shut of them ! " The strangers went on to 
name other settlers they meant to drive out, not 
suspecting who their listeners were, and John Brown 
wrote every word down in his surveyor's book. 
A few days later the Georgians moved their camp 



232 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

nearer to the Brown settlement, and began to steal 
horses and cattle belonging to the free-state men. 
Brown took his list, and went to see the men whose 
names were on it. They held a meeting, and 
decided that it was time to teach the ** border ruf- 
fians," as such men as the Georgians were called, a 
lesson. News of the meeting spread rapidly, and 
soon it was generally known that the free-state men 
about Osawatomie, which was the name of the 
town near which the Browns lived, were prepared to 
take the war-path. 

The old bitter feelings flamed up again in May of 
1856. On the twenty-first of the month, a band of 
slavery men swept down on the town of Lawrence, 
and while the free-state citizens looked on, sacked 
and burned the place. John Brown and his sons 
hurried there, but when they reached Lawrence the 
houses were in ashes. He denounced the free- 
state men as cowards, for to his ardent nature it 
seemed an outrage that men should let themselves 
be treated so by ruffians. When a discreet citizen 
said that they must act with caution John Brown 
burst out at him : " Caution, caution, sir ! I am 
eternally tired of hearing that word caution — it is 
nothing but the word for cowardice 1 " There was 
nothing for him to do, however, and he was about to 
turn toward home when a boy came dashing up. 
He reported that the ruffians in the Swamp of 
the Swan had warned all the women in the Brown 
settlement that they must leave Kansas by Saturday 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 233 

or Sunday, or they would be driven out. The 
women had been frightened, and taking their chil- 
dren, had fled in an ox-cart to the house of a 
relative at a distance. The boy added that two 
houses and a store near the settlement had been 
burned. 

Those were dark days on the border, days that 
hardened men's natures. Such a man as John 
Brown felt that it was his duty to stamp out the 
pest of slavery at any cost. He turned to his 
sons and to some German friends whose homes 
had been burned. " I will attend to those fellows," 
said he. " Something must be done to show these 
barbarians that we too have rights !" A neighbor 
offered to carry the little band of men in his wagon. 
They looked to their guns and cutlasses. Peace- 
loving people in Lawrence grew uneasy. Judging 
from Brown's expression, they feared that he was 
going to sow further trouble. 

Eight men drove back to the Browns' settlement, 
and found that the messenger's story was correct. 
They called a meeting of those who were to be 
driven out of Kansas, according to the ruffians' 
threats. At the meeting they decided to rid the 
country of the outlaws, who had only come west to 
plunder, and some of whom had been employed in 
chasing runaway slaves who had escaped from 
their masters. Their plans made, Brown's band 
rode to a little saloon on the Pottawatomie Creek 
where the raiders made their headquarters. Within 



234 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

an hour's walk were the men's cabins. Members 
of Brown's band stopped at the door of each 
cabin that night, and asked for the men they wanted. 
If the inmates hesitated to open the door it was 
, broken open. Two of the men on their Hst could 
not be found, but five were led out into the woods 
and killed. It was a horrible deed, barbarous even 
in those days of bloodshed. But Brown's men felt 
that they were forced to do it. 

John Brown thought that this one desperate act 
might set Kansas free ; but it only marked the 
beginning of a long and bloody drama. As soon 
as the facts were known he and his sons became 
outlaws with prices on their heads. Even his neigh- 
bors at Osawatomie were horrified at his act. Two 
of his sons who had not been with him were ar- 
rested, and the little settlement became a center 
of suspicion. The father withdrew to the woods, 
and there about thirty-five men gathered about 
him. They lived the life of outlaws, and neither 
slave-state nor free-state officers dared to try to 
capture them. By chance a reporter of the New 
York Tribune came on their camp. He wrote : 
" I shall not soon forget the scene that here opened 
to my view. Near the edge of the creek a dozen 
horses were tied, all ready saddled for a ride for 
life, or a hunt after Southern invaders. A dozen 
rifles and sabres were stacked against the trees. 
In an open space, amid the shady and lofty woods, 
there was a great blazing fire with a pot on it ; 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 235 

a woman, bareheaded, with an honest sunburnt face, 
was picking- blackberries from the bushes ; three 
or four armed men were lying on red and blue 
blankets on the grass ; and two fine-looking youths 
were standing, leaning on their arms, on guard 
near by. . . . Old Brown himself stood near 
the fire, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, and a large 
piece of pork in his hand. He was cooking a pig. 
He was poorly clad, and his toes protruded from his 
boots. The old man received me with great cor- 
diality, and the little band gathered about me." 

This band, living in forest and swamp, was always 
ready to strike a blow for the free-state cause. The 
slavery men were getting the upper hand, and 
Northern families who had settled in Kansas began 
to look to John Brown for protection. The "border 
ruffians " grew worse and worse, attacking small de- 
fenseless settlements, burning homes and carrying 
off cattle. Sometimes it was only the fear of retal- 
iation from Brown's company that kept the raiders 
from still greater crimes. Occasionally they met ; 
once they fought a battle at Black Jack, and twenty- 
four of the enemy finally surrendered to nine of 
Brown's men. One of the leader's sons was badly 
wounded, and the father had to nurse him in the 
woods. 

Affairs grew worse during the summer. The 
vilest scum of the slave states poured into Kansas, 
and the scenes on the border grew more and more 
disgraceful. There were pitched battles, and at last 



236 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

the governor of the territory, thoroughly scared, sur- 
rendered his power into the hands of the slave- 
holders, and fled for his life. The slave-state men 
thought that the time had come to strike a blow that 
should settle the question in Kansas permanently. 
They prepared to gather an army in Missouri, in- 
tending to cross into Kansas, and so terrify settlers 
from the North that they would make no further re- 
sistance. Conditions looked desperate to John 
Brown, and he left the territory for a short time to 
see what he could do to get help for his cause. 

A large band of emigrants from the North were on 
the march toward Kansas, and Brown rode to meet 
them. The emigrants had heard of him, and wel- 
comed him to their midst. He encouraged them 
and urged them to fight for freedom, and went on 
his way hoping to rouse more free-state men to enter 
Kansas. 

The East was now thoroughly awake to the law- 
less situation on the border, and a new governor, 
Geary by name, was sent out from Washington. 
Meetings were held in the large cities, and money, 
arms, and men began to pour into Kansas. Several 
hundred men from Missouri attacked Osawatomie, 
which was defended by Abolitionists, and a battle 
followed. John Brown was there, and when his 
party won the day he gained the nickname of 
"Osawatomie Brown," by which he was generally 
called thereafter. 

Fired by this success, the leaders of the free-state 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 237 

army planned to capture Lawrence. The new gov- 
ernor feared that such an act would mean the begin- 
ning of a general civil war, and did his best to pre- 
vent it. He succeeded in this. The free-state men 
were divided into two parties, those whose aim was 
to have Kansas admitted to the Union as a free state, 
and those who, like John Brown, were bent on abol- 
ishing slavery throughout the United States. Gov- 
ernor Geary assured the former men that Kansas 
would be free soil, and he tried to induce Brown to 
leave that part of the country for a time in the inter- 
est of peace. Brown was willing to do as Governor 
Geary wished, thinking that Kansas was safe for the 
present. He wanted to turn his attention to other 
parts of the country, where he thought he was more 
needed. In September, 1856, he started east with 
his sons. He was now a well-known figure, hated 
by all slave-ownerSj a hero to Abolitionists, and dis- 
trusted by that large number of men whose object 
was to secure peace at any cost. 

There were many people in the North at that time 
who were helping runaway slaves to escape from 
their masters, and in certain parts of the country 
there were stations of what was called the " Under- 
ground Railroad." Negroes fleeing from the 
tyranny of Southern owners were helped along from 
one station to another, until they were finally safe 
across the Canadian border. The law of the country 
said that negro slaves were like any other form of 
property, and that it was the duty of citizens to re- 



238 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

turn runaways to their masters. There were also 
scattered through the border states a number of men 
whose business it was to catch fugitive slaves and 
take them back south. These men were usually of 
a brutal type, and the poor refugee who fell into 
their clutches was made to suffer for his attempt at 
escape. Story after story of the sufferings of slaves 
came to John Brown's ears, and he felt that it was 
his duty to throw himself into the work of the Un- 
derground Railroad, and help as many slaves as 
possible to cross into Canada. 

This work was not enough for him, however ; he 
wanted to strike some blow at the slave-owners 
themselves. The Alleghany Mountain range was 
one of the main roads for fugitives, for there men 
could hide in the thick forests of the mountainside, 
and could make some show of defense when the 
slave-catchers and bloodhounds came in pursuit. 
John Brown knew this country well. He traveled 
through the North, talking with other men who felt 
as he did, and trying to work out a plan which 
should force the country to decide this question of 
negro slavery. At last he decided to make a raid 
into Southern territory, and free slaves for himself. 

In the heart of the Alleghanies, and almost mid- 
way between Maine and Florida, is a great natural 
gateway in the mountains. Here the Potomac and 
the Shenandoah Rivers meet, and seem to force their 
way through the natural barrier. This pass is 
Harper's Ferry, and in 1859 it was the seat of a 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 239 

United States arsenal. To the south was a country- 
filled with slaves, who looked to Harper's Ferry as 
the highroad to freedom. Not far from the arsenal 
rose the Blue Ridge Mountains, the heights of which 
commanded the pass. It was John Brown's plan to 
lead men from the Maryland side of the Potomac 
River to attack the arsenal, and when it was captured 
to carry arms and ammunition across the Shenan- 
doah to Loudoun Heights in the Blue Ridge, and 
hide there. From here his band could make raids 
to the south, freeing slaves, and shielding them 
from their masters, while using the mountains for a 
shelter. 

There were many other men in the United States 
bent on destroying slavery, but few so impulsive as 
John Brown. His plan was rash in the extreme, and 
even its success would have profited only a few slaves. 
But Brown was a born crusader. The men who fol- 
lowed him were all impulsive, and many of them 
were already trained in the rude ways of frontier life. 
They knew what he had done in Kansas, and were 
ready to fight on his side anywhere else. They had 
a real reverence for John Brown. The tall man with 
the long, almost white hair, keen eyes, and flowing 
beard was no ordinary leader. He had the power 
to convince men that his cause was just, and to hold 
them in his service afterward. 

In June, 1859, John Brown, with two of his sons, 
and two friends, started south. He rented a farm 
about five miles from Harper's Ferry, in a quiet, out- 



240 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

of-the-way place. There were several cabins in the 
neighborhood, and as his followers gradually joined 
him, they occupied these shelters. A daughter kept 
house for him during the summer. The men farmed 
in the daytime, and planned their conspiracy at night. 
The leader did everything he could to win the friend- 
ship of his neighbors. He had some knowledge of 
medicine, and attended all who were sick. Fre- 
quently he preached in the little Dunker chapel 
near by. He was always ready to share his food or 
give the shelter of his roof to any travelers. Slowly 
he collected guns and ammunition, and late in 
September sent his daughter north, and arranged to 
make his attack. At first some of the other men 
objected to his plans. One or two did not approve 
of his seizing the government arsenal, and thought 
they should simply make a raid into Virginia as the 
slave-state men had formerly carried war into 
Kansas. Their leader, however, was determined, 
and nothing could turn him. Already he feared lest 
some suspicion of his purpose might have spread, 
and was eager to make his start. He set Sunday 
night, October i6th, as the time for the raid. 
That morning he called his men together and read 
to them from the Bible. In the afternoon he gave 
them final instructions, and added : " And now, 
gentlemen, let me impress this one thing upon your 
minds. You all know how dear life is to you, and 
how dear life is to your friends. And in remember- 
ing that, consider that the lives of others are as 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 241 

dear to them as yours are to you. Do not, there- 
fore, take the Hfe of any one, if you can possibly 
avoid it ; but if it is necessary to take life in order to 
save your own, then make sure work of it." 

At eight o'clock that night the old farm was alive 
with action. John Brown called : " Men, get on 
your arms ; we will proceed to the Ferry." His 
horse and wagon were driven up before the door, 
and some pikes, a sledge-hammer, and a crowbar 
were put in it. John Brown pulled on his old 
Kansas cap, and cried : " Come, boys 1 " and they 
went into the lane that wound down the hill to the 
highroad. 

Each of the band had been told exactly what he 
was to do. Two of the men were to cut the 
telegraph lines, and two others were to detain the 
sentinels at the bridge. Men were detailed to hold 
each of the bridges over the two rivers, and others 
to occupy the engine house in the arsenal yard. 

The night was cold and dark. John Brown drove 
his one-horse farm-wagon, and the men straggled 
behind him. They had to cover five miles through 
woods and over hills before they came down to the 
narrow road between the cliffs and the Cincinnati 
and Ohio canal. Telegraph wires were cut, the 
watchman on the bridge was arrested, and the band 
found their way open into Harper's Ferry. 

Their object was to seize the arms in the arsenal 
and rifle factory. They marched to the armory 
gate, where they found a watchman. " Open the 



242 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

gate," one of Brown's men ordered. The watch- 
man said that he could not, and another of the band 
declared that there was no time for talk, but that he 
would get a crowbar and hammer from the wagon. 
He twisted the crowbar in the chain that held the gate, 
and broke it open ; then leaving the watchman in the 
care of two men, the rest made a dash for the 
arsenal. 

A great deal happened in a short time. Guards 
were overpowered, the bridge secured, and the river 
forded close to the rifle-works. Not a gun had to 
be fired, and both soldiers and civilians did as they 
were bid by the armed men. Others of the raiders 
hurried out into the country, and meeting some 
colored men, told them their plans, and the latter at 
once agreed to join them. Each of the negroes 
was sent at once to stir up the slaves in the neigh- 
borhood, and bring them to Harper's Ferry. The 
raiders then came to the house of Colonel Lewis 
Washington. They knocked on the door, and were 
admitted. Colonel Washington asked what they 
wanted. The leader answered, •' You are our 
prisoner, and must come to the Ferry with us." 
The Virginian replied, " You can have my slaves, if 
you will let me remain." He was told, however, 
that he 'must go back with them ; and so he did, to- 
gether with a large four-horse wagon and some arms, 
guns, swords, and cartridges. 

Others of the band had brought in more Virginia 
prisoners. An east-bound train on the Baltimore and 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 243 

Ohio Railroad that reached Harper's Ferry about 
one o'clock in the morning was detained, and the 
passengers were kept there until sunrise. John 
Brown was in command at the arsenal, and the rest 
of his band were acting at different points. By 
morning the people of the village were all alarmed. 
They did not know what the raiders meant to do, 
but many of them fled to the mountains, spreading 
the news as they went. 

In spite of some little confusion among his follow- 
ers, practically all of John Brown's plans had been 
successful up to this point. He had captured the 
armory, and armed about fifty slaves. His next ob- 
ject was to get the store of guns and ammunition 
that he had left at his farm. Here came the first 
hitch in his plans. He ordered two of his men. 
Cook and Tidd, to take some of the freed slaves in 
Colonel Washington's wagon, and drive to the house 
of a man named Terrence Burns, and take him, his 
brother and their slaves prisoners. Cook was to 
stay at Burns's house while Tidd and the negroes 
were to go to John Brown's farm, load the guns in 
the wagon, and bring them back to a schoolhouse 
near the Ferry, stopping on the way for Cook and 
his prisoners. This the two men did ; but they were 
so slow in getting the arms from the farm to the 
schoolhouse, a distance of not over three miles, that 
much valuable time was lost. Cook halted to make 
a speech on human equality at one of the houses 
they passed, and Tidd stopped his wagon frequently 



244 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

and talked with passers-by on the road. They had 
the first load of arms at the schoolhouse by ten 
o'clock in the morning, but it was four o'clock in the 
afternoon before the second load arrived. All the 
guns and arms should have been at the schoolhouse 
by ten o'clock, if the men had followed John Brown's 
orders strictly. 

John Brown probably still intended to carry his 
arms, together with the prisoners and their slaves, 
up to^ Loudoun Heights, where he would be safe for 
some time, but his men were so slow in obeying his 
orders that the enemy was given time to collect. 
The train that had left Harper's Ferry that morning 
carried word of the raid throughout the countryside, 
and men gathered in the neighboring villages ready 
to march on Harper's Ferry and put an end to the 
disturbance. John Brown held thousands of muskets 
and rifles in the arsenal, while the men who were 
marching to attack him were for the most part armed 
with squirrel guns and old-fashioned fowling-pieces. 
The militia collected rapidly, and marched toward 
the Ferry from all directions. By noon the Jefferson 
Guards had seized the bridge that crossed the Poto- 
mac. Meantime John Brown had girded to his side 
a sword that had belonged to Lafayette, that had 
been taken from Colonel Lewis Washington's house 
the night before, called his men from the arsenal into 
the street, and said, *' The troops are on the bridge, 
coming into town ; we will give them a warm recep- 
tion." He walked back and forth before the small 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 245 

band, encouraging them. " Men, be cool I " he 
urged. '* Don't waste your powder and shot 1 Take 
aim, and make every shot count ! The troops will 
look for us to retreat on their first appearance ; be 
careful to shoot first." 

The militia soon advanced across the bridge and 
up the main street. When they were some sixty or 
seventy yards away from the raiders John Brown 
gave the order to fire. Some of the militia fell. 
Other volleys followed ; and the attacking party was 
thrown into disorder. Finally they were driven back 
to the bridge, and took up a position there until re- 
inforcements arrived. As they retreated John Brown 
ordered his men back to the arsenal. In the lull of 
the firing nearly all the unarmed people who were 
still in the town fled to the hills. 

It was now one o'clock in the afternoon, and the 
band of raiders could have escaped to Loudoun 
Heights. But their leader wanted to carry the guns 
and ammunition away with him, and to do this he 
needed the aid of the rest of his men. He sent a 
messenger to one of his followers named Kagi, who 
was stationed with several others on the bank of the 
Shenandoah, with orders for him to hold the place a 
short time longer. The messenger, however, was 
fired on and wounded before he could reach Kagi, 
and the latter's party was soon attacked by a force 
of militia, and driven into the river. A large flat 
rock stood up in the river, and four of the five raid- 
ers reached this. There three of them fell before the 



246 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

fire of bullets, and the fourth was taken a prisoner. 
In similar ways the number of John Brown's men 
was much reduced. 

The leader realized the danger of the situation, 
and decided that his best chance of escape lay in 
using the prisoners he had captured as hostages for 
his band's safe retreat. He moved his men, and the 
more important of the prisoners, to a small brick 
building called the engine-house. There he said to 
his captives, " Gentlemen, perhaps you wonder why 
I have selected you from the others. It is because I 
believe you to be the most influential ; and I have 
only to say now that you will have to share precisely 
the same fate that your friends extend to my men." 
He ordered the doors and windows barricaded, and 
port-holes cut in the walls. 

The engine-house now became the raiders' citadel, 
and the militia and bands of farmers who were arriv- 
ing at Harper's Ferry released the prisoners who 
were still in the arsenal, and concentrated all their 
fire on the band in the small brick house. 

As the sun set the town filled with troops, and it 
was evident that the men in the fort would have to 
surrender. They kept up their firing, however, from 
the port-holes, and were answered with a rain of 
bullets aimed at the doors and windows. Both sides 
lost a number of men. Two of John Brown's sons 
had been shot during the day. Finally the leader 
asked if one of his prisoners would volunteer to go 
out among the citizens and induce them to cease fir- 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 247 

ing on the fort, as they were endangering the lives 
of their friends, the other captives. He promised 
that if they would stop firing his men would do the 
same. One of the prisoners agreed to try this, and 
the firing ceased for a time. 

More troops poured into Harper's Ferry, and pres- 
ently Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived with a force of 
United States marines. Guards were set about the 
engine-house to see that John Brown and his men 
did not escape. Then Colonel Lee sent a flag of 
truce to the engine-house, and in the name of the 
United States demanded that Brown surrender, ad- 
vising him to throw himself on the clemency of the 
government. John Brown answered that he knew 
what that meant, and added, " I prefer to die just 
here." Again in the morning Lee sent his aide to 
the fort. The officer asked, " Are you ready to sur- 
render, and trust to the mercy of the government ? " 
Brown answered, " No, I prefer to die here." Then 
the soldiers attacked, not with guns this time, but 
with sledge-hammers, intending to break down the 
doors. This did not succeed, and seizing a long 
ladder they used it as a battering-ram, and finally 
broke the fastenings of the main door. Lieutenant 
Green pushed his way in, and, jumping on top of 
the engine, looked about for John Brown. Amid a 
storm of bullets, he saw the white-haired leader, and 
sprang at him, at the same time striking at him with 
his sword. John Brown fell forward, with his head 
between his knees. In a few minutes all of the raid- 



248 HISTORIC ADVENTURES / 

ers who were left in the engine-house had surren- 
dered to the government troops. 

Of the band that had left the farm on Sunday 
night seven were taken prisoners, ten had been killed 
in the fighting, and six others had managed to make 
their escape. By noon of Tuesday, October i8th, 
the raid was over. John Brown, wounded in half a 
dozen places, lay on the floor of the engine-house ; 
and the governor of Virginia bent over him. "Who 
are you?" asked the governor. The old man an- 
swered, " My name is John Brown ; I have been well 
known as old John Brown of Kansas. Two of my 
sons were killed here to-day, and I'm dying too. I 
came here to liberate slaves, and was to receive no 
reward. I have acted from a sense of duty, and am 
content to await my fate ; but I think the crowd have 
treated me badly. I am an old man. Yesterday I 
could have killed whom I chose ; but I had no desire 
to kill any person, and would not have killed a man 
had they not tried to kill me and my men. I could 
have sacked and burned the town, but did not ; I 
have treated the persons whom I took as hostages 
kindly, and I appeal to them for the truth of what I 
say. If I had succeeded in running off slaves this 
time, I could have raised twenty times as many men 
as I have now for a similar expedition. But I have 
failed." 

The news of John Brown's raid spread through the 
country, and the people North and South were 
amazed and bewildered. They had grown used to 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 249 

hearing of warfare in the distant borderland of 
Kansas, but this was a battle that had taken place in 
the very heart of the Union. Men did not know 
what to think of it. John Brown appeared to many 
of them as a monstrous figure, a firebrand who 
would touch his torch to the tinder of slavery, and 
set the whole nation in a blaze. Newspapers and 
public speakers denounced him. They said he was 
attacking the foundations of the country when he 
seized the arsenal and freed slaves from their lawful 
owners. Only a handful of men had any good to 
say for him, and that handful were looked upon as 
madmen by their neighbors. Only a few could read 
the handwriting on the wall, and realize that John 
Brown was merely a year or two in advance of the 
times. 

We who know the story of the Civil War and the 
abolition of slavery think of John Brown as a hero. 
We forget the outlaw and remember the martyr. If 
he was setting the laws of men at defiance he was 
also following the law that he felt was given him by 
God. His faith and his simplicity have made him a 
great figure in history. A man who met him riding 
across the plains of Kansas in the days of the border 
warfare drew a vivid picture of him. He said that 
a tall man on horseback stopped and asked him a 
question. "It was on a late July day, and in its 
hottest hours. I had been idly watching a wagon 
and one horse toiling slowly northward across the 
prairie, along the emigrant trail that had been 



250 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

marked out by free-state men. . . . John Brown, 
whose name the young and ardent had begun to 
conjure with and swear by, had been described to 
me. So, as I heard the question, I looked up and 
met the full, strong gaze of a pair of luminous, ques- 
tioning eyes. Somehow I instinctively knew this was 
John Brown, and with that name I replied. . . . 
It was a long, rugged-featured face I saw. A tall, 
sinewy figure, too (he had dismounted), five feet 
eleven, I estimated, with square shoulders, narrow 
flank, sinewy and deep-chested. A frame full of 
nervous power, but not impressing one especially 
with muscular vigor. The impression left by the 
pose and the figure was that of reserve, endurance, 
and quiet strength. The questioning voice-tones 
were mellow, magnetic, and grave. On the weather- 
worn face was a stubby, short, gray beard. . . . 
This figure, — unarmed, poorly clad, with coarse 
linen trousers tucked into high, heavy cowhide 
boots, with heavy spurs on their heels, a cotton 
shirt opened at the throat, a long torn linen duster, 
and a bewrayed chip straw hat . . . made up the 
outward garb and appearance of John Brown when I 
first met him. In ten minutes his mounted figure 
disappeared over the north horizon." 

But John Brown had seized the government's 
arsenal, and put arms in the hands of negro slaves, 
and therefore the law must take its course with him. 
Its officers came to him where he lay on the floor of 
his fort, a badly-wounded man, who had fought for 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 251 

fifty-five long hours, who had seen two sons and eight 
of his comrades shot in the battle, and who felt that 
his cause was lost. 

When men who owned slaves asked the reason for 
his raid, he answered, " You are guilty of a great 
wrong against God and humanity and it would be per- 
fectly right for any one to interfere with you so far 
as to free those you wilfully and wickedly hold in 
bondage. ... I pity the poor in bondage that 
have none to help them. That is why I am here ; 
not to gratify any personal animosity, revenge, or 
vindictive spirit." 

A number of Virginians had been killed in the 
fight, and it was difficult to secure a fair trial for the 
raiders. The state did its best to hold the scales of 
justice even. The formal trial began on October 27, 
1859. Friends from the North came to his aid, and 
a Massachusetts lawyer acted as his counsel. John 
Brown heard the charges against him lying on a 
straw pallet, and four days later he heard the jury 
declare him guilty of treason. December 2, 1859, 
the sentence of the court was carried out, and John 
Brown was hanged as a traitor. His last written 
words were, " I, John Brown, am quite certain that 
the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged 
away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, 
flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it 
might be done," 

Every great cause in history has its martyrs, and 
John Brown was one of those who were sacrificed in the 



252 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

battle for human freedom. Statesmen had tried for 
years to argue away the wrongs that began when the 
first African bondsmen were brought to the American 
colonies. Statesmen, however, cannot change the 
views of men and women as to what is right and 
wrong, and all the arguments in the world could not 
convince such men as John Brown and his friends 
that one man had a right to the possession of a fel- 
low-creature. He struck his blow wildly, but its echo 
rang in the ears of the North, and never ceased until 
the Civil War was ended, and slavery wiped off the 
continent. The great negro orator, Frederick 
Douglass, said twenty-two years later at Harper's 
Ferry, " If John Brown did not end the war that 
ended slavery, he did, at least, begin the war that 
ended slavery. If we look over the dates, places, 
and men for which this honor is claimed, we shall 
find that not Carolina, but Virginia, not Fort Sumter, 
but Harper's Ferry and the arsenal, not Major 
Anderson, but John Brown began the war that 
ended American slavery, and made this a free 
republic. . . . When John Brown stretched forth 
his arm the sky was cleared, — the armed hosts of 
freedom stood face to face over the chasm of a 
broken Union, and the clash of arms was at hand." 

In the spring of 1861 the Boston Light Infantry 
went to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor to drill. 
They formed a quartette to sing patriotic songs, 
and some one wrote the verses that are known as 
" John Brown's Body," and set them to the music of 



JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY 253 

an old camp-meeting tune. Regiment after regi- 
ment heard the song and carried it with them into 
camp and battle. So the spirit of the simple cru- 
sader went marching on through the war, and his 
name was linked forever with the cause of freedom. 



XII 
AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 

When Columbus sailed from Palos in 1492 he 
hoped to find a shorter route to Cathay or China 
than any that was then known, and the great 
explorers who followed after him had the same hope 
of such a discovery in their minds. When men 
learned that instead of finding a short route to 
China they had come upon two great continents 
that shared the Western Ocean, they turned their 
thoughts to discovering what was known as the 
Northwest Passage. They hoped to find a way by 
which ships might sail from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific Ocean north of America. The great English 
explorers in particular were eager to find such an 
ocean route, and this search was the real beginning 
of the fur-trading around Hudson's Bay, the cod- 
fishing of Newfoundland, and the whale-fishing of 
Baffin Bay. 

One sea-captain after another sailed across the 
Atlantic, and strove to find the passage through the 
Arctic regions ; but the world of snow and ice 
defeated each of them. Some went back to report 
that there was no Northwest Passage, and others 



AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 255 

were lost among the ice-floes and never returned. 
Then in 1845 England decided to send a great 
expedition to make another attempt, and put at the 
head of it Sir John Franklin, a brave captain who 
had fought with Nelson and knew the sea in all 
its variety. He sailed from England May 26, 1845, 
taking one hundred and twenty-nine men in the two 
ships Erebus and Terror. He carried enough pro- 
visions to last him for three years. On July 26, 
1845, Franklin's two vessels were seen by the cap- 
tain of a whaler, moored to an iceberg in Baffin 
Bay. They were waiting for an opening in the 
middle of an ice-pack, through which they might 
sail across the bay and enter Lancaster Sound. 
They were never seen again, and the question of 
what had happened to Sir John Franklin's party 
became one of the mysteries of the age. 

More than twenty ships, with crews of nearly 
two thousand officers and men, at a cost of many 
millions of dollars, sought for Sir John Franklin in the 
years between 1847 and 1853. One heroic explorer 
after another sailed into the Arctic, crossed the ice- 
floes, and searched for some trace of the missing 
men. But none could be found, and one after 
another the explorers came back, their only report 
being that the ice had swallowed all traces of the 
English captain and his vessels. At length the last 
of the expeditions sent out by the English Govern- 
ment returned, and the world decided that the 
mystery would never be solved. But brave Lady 



256 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Franklin, the wife of Sir John, urged still other men 
to seek for news, and at last explorers found that all 
of Franklin's expedition had perished in their search 
for the Northwest Passage. 

Arctic explorers usually leave records telling the 
story of their discoveries at different points along 
the road they follow. For a long time after the 
fate of Franklin's party was known, men tried 
to find records he might have left in cairns, or 
piles of stones through the Arctic regions. Whale 
vessels sometimes brought news of such records, 
but most of them proved to be idle yarns told by 
the whalers to surprise their friends at home. One 
of these stories was that all the missing records of 
Sir John Franklin were to be found in a cairn which 
was built near Repulse Bay. This story was told so 
often that people came to believe it was true, 
and some young Americans set out to make a 
search of King William Land and try to find the 
cairn. The party sailed on the whaler Eothen, and 
five men landed at Repulse Bay. The leader was 
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, of the United 
States Army. He had three friends with him named 
Gilder, Klutschak, and Melms, and with them was 
an Eskimo, who was known as Joe. 

The young Americans set up a winter camp 
on Chesterfield Inlet, and tried to live as much like 
the native Eskimos as possible. During the winter 
they met many natives on their hunting-trips, and 
the latter soon convinced them that they were on a 



AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 257 

wild-goose chase, and that the story of the cairn 
was probably only a sailor's yarn. Lieutenant 
Schwatka, however, was not the sort of man to 
return home without some results from his trip, and 
so he made up his mind to go into the country 
where Franklin's party had perished, hoping that he 
might find some record which would throw light 
on the earlier explorer's travels. 

The Eskimos were a race largely unknown to 
civilized men. White men had seen much more 
of the native American Indians who lived in more 
temperate climates. These young Americans found 
a great deal to interest them during the winter 
among these strange people of the far North. 
Hunting was their chief pursuit, and the Americans 
found that they spent much of their time indoors 
playing a game called Nu-glew-tar, which sharp- 
ened their quickness of eye and sureness of aim. 
It was a simple sport ; a small piece of bone, pierced 
with a row of small holes, was hung from the roof of 
the hut by a rope of walrus hide, and a heavy 
weight was fastened to the end of the bone to keep 
it from swinging. The Eskimo players were each 
armed with a small sharp-pointed stick, and each in 
turn would thrust his stick at the bone, trying to 
pierce one of the holes. The prize was won by 
the player who pierced the bone and held it fast 
with his stick. 

As soon as spring opened Lieutenant Schwatka 
started out, leaving his winter camp in April, 1879, 



258 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

and crossing in as straight a line as possible to 
Montreal Island, near the mouth of the Black 
River. He took with him twelve Eskimos, men, 
women, and children, and dogs to pull the sledges. 
They carried food for one month only, intending to 
hunt during the summer. Every night the Eskimos 
built snow huts, or igloos, in which the party camped. 
As they went on they met men of another Arctic 
tribe, the Ook-joo-liks, who wore shoes and gloves 
made of musk-ox skin, which was covered with 
hair several inches long, and made the wearers look 
more like bears than like men. One of these natives 
said that he had seen a ship that had sunk ofl 
Adelaide Peninsula, and that he and his friends 
had obtained such articles as spoons, knives, and 
plates from the ship. Lieutenant Schwatka thought 
the ship was probably either the Erebus or the Terror. 
Later his party found an old woman who said that 
when she had been on the southeast coast of King 
William Land not many years before she had seen 
ten white men dragging a sledge with a boat on it. 
Five of the white men put up a tent on the shore 
and five stayed with the boat. Some men of the 
woman's tribe had killed seals and given them to 
the white men ; then the white men had left, and 
neither she nor any of her tribe had seen them 
again. Asking questions of the Eskimos he met, 
Lieutenant Schwatka and his comrades gradually 
pieced together the story of what had happened 
to Franklin and his men. But the American 



AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 259 

was not content with what he had learned in 
this way, and he determined to cross Simpson 
Strait to King William Land, and search for 
records there during the summer. This meant 
that he would have to spend the summer on this 
bare and desolate island, as there would be no 
chance to cross the strait until the cold weather of 
autumn should form new ice for a bridge. 

The Eskimos did everything they could to per- 
suade him not to cross to the island. They told him 
that in 1848 more than one hundred men had 
perished of starvation there, and added that no one 
could find sufficient food to keep them through the 
summer. Yet the fearless soldier and his friends in- 
sisted on making the attempt, and some of the 
Eskimos were daring enough to go with them. 

It seemed doubtful whether they could even get 
across the strait. Every few steps some man would 
sink into the ice-pack up to his waist and his legs 
would dangle in slush without finding bottom. The 
sledges would sink so that the dogs, flounder- 
ing and scrambling, could not pull them. The men 
had to push the dog-teams along, and after the first 
day's travel they were all so exhausted that they had 
to rest the whole of the next day before they could 
start on again. Finally they reached the opposite 
shore of the strait, and, while the natives built igloos 
and hunted, the Americans searched for records of 
Franklin's party. They found enough traces to 
prove that the men who had sought the Northwest 



26o HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Passage had spent some time on this desolate strip 
of land. 

More than once they were in danger of starvation. 
In the spring the Eskimos hunted wild ducks, which 
they found in remote stretches of water. Their way 
of hunting was to steal up on a flock of the birds, 
and, as soon as the ducks took alarm, to rush toward 
the largest bunch of them. The hunter then threw 
his spear, made with three barbs of different lengths, 
and caught the duck on the sharp central prong. 
The long wooden shaft of the spear would keep the 
duck floating on the water until the hunter could 
seize it. But as summer drew on, and the ducks 
migrated, food grew very scarce. Once or twice 
they discovered bears, which they shot, and when 
there was nothing else to eat they lived on a small 
black berry that the Eskimos called parazvoitg^ which 
proved very sustaining. 

As the white men tramped day after day over the 
icy hillocks their footwear wore out, and often walk- 
ing became a torment. In telling of their march 
Gilder said, '• We were either wading through the 
hillside torrents or lakes, which, frozen on the bot- 
tom, made the footing exceedingly treacherous, or 
else with sealskin boots, soft by constant wetting, 
painfully plodding over sharp stones set firmly in the 
ground with the edges pointed up. Sometimes as a 
new method of injury, stepping and slipping on flat 
stones, the unwary foot slid into a crevice that seem- 
ingly wrenched it from the body." 



AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 261 

When they had nothing else to eat the white men 
Hved on the same food as the native hunters. This 
was generally a tallow made from the reindeer, and 
eaten with strips of reindeer meat. A dish of this, 
mixed with seal-oil, was said to look like ice-cream 
and took the place of that dessert with the Eskimos. 
Lieutenant Schwatka said, however, that instead of 
tasting like ice-cream it reminded him more of 
locust, sawdust and wild-honey. 

As autumn drew on they made ready to cross back 
to the mainland ; but it took some time for the ice to 
form on the strait. Gilder said of their camp life : 
" We eat quantities of reindeer tallow with our meat, 
probably about half of our daily food. Breakfast is 
eaten raw and frozen, but we generally have a warm 
meal in the evening. Fuel is hard to obtain and 
now consists of a vine-like moss called ik-shoot-ik. 
Reindeer tallow is used for a light. A small, flat 
stone serves for a candlestick, on which a lump of 
tallow is placed close to a piece of fibrous moss 
called nmn-ne, which is used for a wick. The melt- 
ing tallow runs down upon the stone and is imme- 
diately absorbed by the moss. This makes a cheer- 
ful and pleasant light, but is most exasperating to a 
hungry man as it smells exactly like frying meat. 
Eating such quantities of tallow is a great benefit in 
this climate, and we can easily see the effects of it in 
the comfort with which we meet the cold." 

As soon as the ice on the strait was frozen hard 
enough the reindeer crossed it, and by the middle of 



262 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

October King William Land was practically deserted. 
Then the Americans and Eskimos started back to 
the mainland. Winter had now come, and the 
weather was intensely cold, often ninety degrees be- 
low freezing. In December the traveling grew 
worse, and food became so scarce that they had to 
stop day after day for hunting. In January a bliz- 
zard struck their camp and lasted thirteen days ; 
then wolves prowled about them at night, and once 
actually killed four of their dogs. " A sealskin full 
of blubber," said Gilder, *' would have saved many 
of our dogs ; but we had none to spare for them, as 
we were reduced to the point when we had to save 
it exclusively for lighting the igloos at night. We 
could not use it to warm our igloos or to cook with. 
Our meat had to be eaten cold — that is, frozen so 
solid that it had to be sawed and then broken into 
convenient-sized lumps, which when first put into 
the mouth were like stones. Sometimes, however, 
the snow was beaten off the moss on the hillsides and 
enough was gathered to cook a meal." 

When they were almost on the point of starvation 
a walrus was killed, and supplied them with food to 
last until they got back to the nearest Eskimo vil- 
lage. From the coast they took ship to the United 
States. The records they brought with them prac- 
tically completed the account of what had happened 
to Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition. And al- 
most equally important were the new details they 
brought in regard to Eskimo life, and the proof they 



AN ARCTIC EXPLORER 263 

gave that men of the temperate zone could pass a 
year in the frozen land of the far north if they would 
live as the natives did, and adapt themselves to the 
rigors of that climate. 



XIII 
THE STORY OF ALASKA 

In the far northwestern corner of North America is a 
land that has had few stirring scenes in its history. 
It is an enormous tract, close to the Arctic Sea, and 
far from the busy cities of the United States. Not 
until long after the English, French, and Spanish dis- 
coverers had explored the country in the Temperate 
Zone did any European find Alaska. Even when it 
was found it seemed to offer little but ice-fields and 
desolate prairies, leading to wild mountain ranges 
that did not tempt men to settle. Seal hunters came 
and went, but generally left the native Indians in 
peace. Most of these hunters came from Siberia, for 
the Russians were the first owners of this land. 

An officer in the Russian Navy named Vitus Ber- 
ing found the strait that is called by his name in 
1728. Some years later he was sent into the Arctic 
Sea again by the Empress Anne of Russia to try to 
find the wonderful country that Vasco de Gama had 
sought. He sailed in summer, and after weathering 
heavy storms finally reached Kayak Island on St. 
Elias Day, July 17, 1741, and named the great moun- 
tain peak in honor of that saint. More storms fol- 



THE STORY OF ALASKA 265 

lowed, and soon afterward the brave sailor was ship- 
wrecked and drowned off the Comandorski Islands. 
His crew managed to get back to Siberia, having 
lived on the meat of the seals they were able to shoot. 
Russian traders saw the sealskins they brought home, 
and sent out expeditions to obtain more furs. Some 
returned richly laden, but others were lost in storms 
and never heard from. There was so much danger 
in the hunting that it was not until 1783 that Rus- 
sian merchants actually established trading-posts in 
Alaska. Then a rich merchant of Siberia named 
Gregory Shelikoff built a post on Kadiak Island, and 
took into partnership with him a Russian named 
Alexander Baranof. Baranof built a fort on an island 
named for him, some three miles north of the pres- 
ent city of Sitka. The two men formed the Russian 
American Fur Company, and Baranof became its 
manager in America. 

One day a seal hunter came to Baranof at his 
fortress, and took from his pocket a handful of nug- 
gets and scales of gold. He held them out to the 
Russian, and said that he knew where many more 
like them were to be found. ** Ivan," said Baranof, 
" I forbid you to seek for any more. You must not 
say a word about this, or there will be trouble. If 
the Americans or the English know that there is gold 
in these mountains we will be ruined. They will 
rush in here by the thousands, and crowd us to the 
wall." Baranof was a fur merchant, and did not 
want to see miners flocking to his land, as his com- 



266 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

pany was growing rich from the seals and fur-trad- 
ing with the natives. 

Little by little, however, the news leaked out that 
the northwestern country had rich minerals, and soon 
the King of Spain began to covet some of that 
wealth for himself. The Spaniards claimed that they 
owned all of the country that had not yet been 
mapped out, and they sent an exploring party, under 
Perez, to make charts of the northwest. Perez sailed 
along the coast, and finding two capes, named them 
Santa Margarita and Santa Magdalena, but beyond 
that he did little to help the cause of Spain. Some 
years later exploring parties were sent out from 
Mexico, but they found that the wild ice-covered 
country was already claimed by the Russians, and 
that the Czar had no intention of giving it up. 
Other nations, therefore, soon ceased to claim it, and 
the Russian hunters and traders were allowed to 
enjoy the country in peace. 

Alexander Baranof made a great success of the 
trade in skins, but the men who took his place were 
not equal to him. The company began to lose 
money, and the Czar of Russia decided that the 
country was too far away from his capital to be prop- 
erly looked after. The United States finally made 
an offer to buy the great territory from the Czar, 
although the government at Washington was not 
very anxious to make the purchase. The tract, large 
as it was, did not seem to promise much, and it was 
almost as far from Washington as it was from St. 



THE STORY OF ALASKA 267 

Petersburg. The Czar was quite willing to sell, 
however, and so the United States bought the coun- 
try from him in 1867, paying him ^7,200,000 for it. 

On a fine October afternoon in 1867 Sitka Bay saw 
the Stars and Stripes flying from three United States 
war-ships, while the Russian Eagle waved from the 
flagstaffs and houses in the small town. On the 
shore soldiers of the two nations were drawn up in 
front of the old castle, and officers stood waiting at 
the foot of the flagpole on the parade ground. 
Then a gun was fired from one of the United States 
war-ships, and instantly the Russian batteries returned 
the salute. A Russian officer lowered his country's 
flag from the parade ground pole, and an American 
pulled the Stars and Stripes to the peak. Guns 
boomed and regimental bands played, and then the 
Russian troops saluted and left the fortress, and the 
territory became part of the United States. 

Up to that time the country had been known as 
Russian America, but now a new name had to be 
found. Some suggested American Siberia, and 
others the Zero Islands ; but an American statesman, 
Charles Sumner, urged the name of Alaska, a na- 
tive word meaning " the Great Land," and this was 
the name that was finally adopted. 

It took many years to explore the western part of 
the United States, and men who were in search of 
wealth in mines and forests did not have to go as far 
as Alaska to find it. That bleak country was sepa- 
rated from the United States by a long, stormy sea 



268 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

voyage on the Pacific, or a tedious and difificult over- 
land journey through Canada. Alaska might have 
remained for years as little known as while Russia 
owned it had it not been for a small party of men who 
set out to explore the Yukon and the Klondike Rivers. 
On June i6, 1897, a small ship called the Bxcelswr 
sailed into San Francisco Harbor, and half an hour 
after she had landed at her wharf the news was 
spreading far and wide that gold had been dis- 
covered in large quantities on the Klondike. Some 
of the men had gone out years before ; some only a 
few months earlier, but they all brought back for- 
tunes. Not one had left with less than $5,000 in 
gold, gathered in nuggets or flakes, in tin cans, 
canvas bags, wooden boxes, or wrapped up in paper. 
The cry of such sudden wealth was heard by many 
adventurers, and the old days of 'Forty-Nine in 
California began over again when the wild rus^ 

started north to the Klondike. , ^ 

suoc^ 
On June 17th another ship, the Portla^id, arrivec^uaai 

at Seattle, with sixty more miners and $800,000 iroQ — 

gold. This was the largest find of the precious TVD 

mineral that had been made anywhere in the world, ''-P. 

and Seattle followed the example of San Francisco in ""^ 

going gold-crazy. Immediately hundreds of people ^y^ 

took passage on the outward bound steamers, and 

hundreds more were turned away because of lack of , 

room. Ships set out from all the seaports along the 

Pacific coast of the United States, and from the 

Canadian ports of Victoria and Vancouver. As in 





THE STORY OF ALASKA 269 

the old days of 1849 men gave up their business to 
seek the gold fields, but now they had to travel to a 
wilder and more desolate country than California 
had been. 

There were many ways of getting to the Klondike 
country. Those who went by ocean steamer had to 
transfer to flat-bottomed boats to go up the Yukon 
River. This was the easiest route, but the boats 
could only be used on the Yukon from June until 
September, and the great rush of gold-seekers came 
later that autumn. A second route was by the 
Chilkoot trail, which had been used for many years 
by miners going into the country of the Yukon. 
Over this trail horses could be used as far as the foot 
of the great Chilkoot Pass, but from there luggage 
had to be carried by hand. Another trail, much 
like this one, was the White Pass trail, but it led 
through a less-known country than the Chilkoot, 
and was not so popular. The Canadian govern- 
ment laid out a trail of its own, which was called 
"the Stikeen route," and which ran altogether 
through Canadian territory. Besides these there 
were innumerable other roads through the moun- 
tains, and along the rivers ; but the farther men got 
from the better known trails the more danger they 
were in of losing their way, or suffering from 
hunger and hardships. 

Towns blossomed along the coast of Alaska al- 
most over night, but they were strange looking vil- 
lages. The ships that landed at Skagway in the 



270 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

summer of 1897 found a number of rough frame 
houses, with three or four larger than the rest which 
hung out hotel signs. The only government officer 
lived in a tent over which flew the flag of the United 
States. The passengers landed their outfits them- 
selves, for labor was scarce, and found shelter 
wherever they could until they might start on the 
trail. 

No one seemed to know much about the country 
they were going through, but fortunately most of 
the men were experienced woodsmen. They loaded 
their baggage on their packhorses, and started out, 
ready for any sort of country they might have to 
cross. Sometimes the trail lay over miry ground, 
where a false step to the right or left would send the 
horses or men deep into the bog ; sometimes it led 
up steep and rocky mountainsides, where a man 
had to guard his horse's footing as carefully as his 
own ; and much of the way was in the bed of an old 
river, where each step brought a splash of mud, and 
left the travelers at the end of the day spattered 
from head to foot. The journey was harder on the 
horses than on the men. The heavy packs they car- 
ried, and the wretched footing, caused them to drop 
along the road from time to time, and then the 
travelers had to make the best shift they could with 
their luggage. Had the men journeyed alone, or in 
small companies, they would have suffered greatly, 
but the Chilkoot trail was filled with miners who 
were ready to help each other, and to give encour- 



THE STORY OF ALASKA 271 

agement to any who lagged behind. At Dyea they 
came to an old Alaskan settlement, an Indian trad- 
ing post, where a number of native tribes lived in 
their little wooden cabins. These men were the 
Chilkats, the Stikeen Indians, and the Chilkoots, 
short, heavy men, with heads and eyes more like 
Mongolians than like American Indians. Both men 
and women were accustomed to painting their faces 
jet black or chocolate brown, in order to protect 
their eyes and skin from the glare of the sunlight on 
the snow. The traveler could here get Indians to 
act as guides, or if he had lost his horses might ob- 
tain dogs and sleds to carry some of his packs. 

Each of the little settlements through which the 
travelers went boasted of a hotel, usually a frame 
building with two or three large rooms. Each day 
meals were served to three or four hundred hungry 
travelers at rude board tables, and at night the men 
would spread their blankets on the floor and lie 
down to sleep. But as the trail went farther inland 
these little settlements grew fewer, and the men had 
to find whatever shelter they could. From Dyea 
they pushed on through the Chilkoot Pass, where 
the cliffs rose high above them. The winds blew 
cold from the north, and the mists kept everything 
wet. In the Pass some men turned back, finding 
the trip too difficult. Those who went on met with 
increasing hardships. They came to a place called 
Sheep Camp, where a stream of water and rocks 
from the mountain top had swept down upon a 



2/2 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

town of tents and carried them all away. Stories of 
similar happenings at other places were passed from 
mouth to mouth along the trail. More men turned 
back, finding such accidents a good excuse, and only 
the most determined stuck to the road. 

In time they came to a chain of lakes and rivers. 
The travelers stopped to build rude boats and pad- 
dles, and navigated them as best they could. The 
rivers were full of rapids, and it was only by a 
miracle that the little clumsily-built skiffs went danc- 
ing over the waters safely, and escaped the jutting 
rocks on either bank. In the rivers there was good 
trout fishing, and in the wild country good hunting, 
and Indian boys brought game to the tents at night. 
To the trees at each stopping-place papers were 
fastened, telling of the marvelous adventures of the 
miners who had just gone over the trail. As they 
neared Dawson City they found the Yukon River 
more and more covered with floating ice, and travel 
by boat became harder. After a time the oars, pad- 
dles, gunwales, and all the baggage in the boats was 
encrusted with ice, and the boatmen had to make 
their way slowly among the floes. Then they came 
to a turn in the river, and on the bank saw a great 
number of tents and people. " How far is it to Daw- 
son ? " the boatman would call. " This is Dawson. 
If you don't look out you'll be carried past," the men 
on shore answered. Paddles were thrust into the 
ice, and the boat brought to shore. The trip from 
Seattle had so far taken ninety-two days. 



THE STORY OF ALASKA 273 

Food was scarce in Dawson, and men were urged 
to leave as soon as they could. Winter was now 
setting in, and the miners traveled with dog teams 
and sleds to the place where they meant to camp. 
Little work could be done in the winter, and the 
time was spent in preparing to work the gold fields 
in the early spring. All through the cold weather 
the men talked of the fortunes waiting for them, and 
when the warm weather came they staked out their 
claims and set to work. Stories of fabulous finds 
spread like wild-fire, and those who were not finding 
gold rushed to the places that were proving rich. 
That summer many new towns sprang up, and in a 
few weeks the Bonanza and Eldorado mines made 
their owners rich, and all the tributaries of the Klon- 
dike River were yielding a golden harvest. 

When men found land that they thought would 
prove rich they made haste to claim it. Sometimes 
wild races followed, rivals trying to beat each other 
to the government offices at Dawson in order to 
claim the land. Frequently after such a wild race 
the claim would amount to nothing, while another 
man, who had picked out some place that no one 
wanted, would find a rich lode and make a fortune 
from it. Then there would be great excitement, for 
sudden wealth usually went to the miner's head. He 
would go down to Dawson, and spend his money 
freely, while every one in the town would crowd 
around him to share in his good luck. One of the 
most successful was a Scotchman, Alexander Mc- 



274 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

Donald. At the time of the Klondike strike he was 
employed by a company at the town of Forty-Mile. 
He had a little money and began to buy separate 
pieces of land. He could not afford the rich ground, 
but managed to purchase more than forty claims 
through the Klondike. At the end of that first season 
his fortune was said to be $5,000,000, and might well 
have been more, as all his claims had not been fully 
worked He was called " the King of the Klondike," 
and pointed out to newcomers as an example of 
what men might do in the gold fields. 

That was only the beginning of the story of the 
Alaskan gold fields, and each year brought news of 
other discoveries. But the one season of 1897 was 
enough to prove the great value of Alaska, and to 
show that the United States had done well to buy 
that great territory from the Czar of Russia. Yet 
gold is only a small part of its riches, and even 
should the fields of the Klondike yield no more of 
the precious mineral, the seals, the fur trade, and the 
cities springing up along its coast are worth much 
more than the $7,000,000 paid for it. It is still a 
land of adventure, one of the few waste places that 
beckon men to come and find what wealth lies hid- 
den within its borders. 



XIV 

HOW THE "MERRIMAC" WAS SUNK 
IN SANTIAGO HARBOR 

In the small hours of the morning of June 3, 1898, 
the Merrimac, a vessel that had once been a collier 
in the United States Navy, slipped away from the 
war-ships of the American fleet that lay off the coast 
of Cuba, and headed toward the harbor of Santiago. 
The moon was almost full, and there was scarcely a 
cloud in the sky. To the northwest lay the Brook- 
lyn, her great mass almost white in the reflected 
light. On the northeast the Texas loomed dark and 
warlike, and farther away lay a ring of other ships, 
dim and ghostly in the distance. Ahead was the 
coast of Cuba, with an outline of mountains rising in 
a half-circle beyond the harbor. Five miles across 
the water Morro Castle guarded the entrance to the 
harbor, in which lay a fleet of the Spanish Admiral 
Cervera. 

To steer directly for Morro Castle would be to 
keep the Merrimac full in the moon's path, and to 
avoid this she stood to the eastward of the course, 
and stole along at a slow rate of speed. The small 
crew on board, a commander and seven men, were 
stripped to their underclothes and wore life-preserv- 



276 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

ers and revolver-belts. Each man had taken his life 
in his hand when he volunteered for this night's work. 
They wanted to sink the Merrimac at a narrow point 
in the harbor, and bottle up the Spanish fleet beyond 
it. 

As they neared the great looming fortress of the 
Morro it was impossible to keep the ship hidden ; 
the sentries on the castle must see the dark object 
now, and wonder what she intended. The Merrimac 
gave up its oblique course, and steered straight 
ahead. The order " Full speed I " went from Lieu- 
tenant Hobson, a naval constructor in command, to 
the engineer. Foam dashed over the bows, and the 
long shape shot for the harbor entrance, regardless 
of what the enemy might think or do. Soon the 
Morro stood up high above them, the moon clearly 
revealing the great central battery that crowned the 
fortress top. 

The Spanish guns were only five hundred yards 
awa}^ and yet the enemy had given no sign of hav- 
ing seen the Merrimac. Then suddenly a light 
flashed from near the water's edge on the left side of 
the entrance, and a roar followed. The Merrimac 
did not quiver. The shot must have fallen astern. 
Again there was a flash, and this time the crew 
could hear the splash of water as the projectile 
struck back of them. Through their night-glasses 
they saw a picket boat with rapid-fire guns lying 
close in the shadows of the shore. Her guns had 
probably been aimed at the Merrimac' s rudder ; but 



HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 277 

so far they had missed their aim. With a rapid- 
fire g^n to reply the Merrimac might have demol- 
ished the other boat in half a minute, but she had no 
such equipment. She would have to pass within a 
ship's length of this picket. There was nothing to 
do but pay no heed to her aim at the Merrimad s 
rudder, and steer for the high wall ofif Morro Castle, 
where the deep-water channel ran close inshore. 
" A touch of port helm ! " was the order. " A touch 
of port helm, sir," came the answer ; and the vessel 
stood toward the wall. 

There came a crash from the port side. " The 
western battery has opened on us, sir ! " reported the 
man on the bridge to Hobson. " Very well ; pay no 
attention to it," was the answer. The commander 
knew he must take the Merrimac at least another 
ship's length forward, and wondered if the enemy 
would give him that much grace. A shot crossed 
the bridge, and struck. No one was hurt. They 
had almost reached the point where they were 
to stop. Another moment or two, and over the 
engine telegraph went the order, " Stop ! " The 
engineer obeyed. The Merrimac slowed off Morro 
rock. 

A high rocket shot across the channel entrance. 
From each side came the firing of batteries. Hob- 
son and his men were too busy to heed them. The 
Merrimac, still swinging under her own headway, 
brought her bow within thirty feet of the rock before 
she righted. Another ship's length, and she would 



2/8 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

be at the point where her commander had planned 
to take her ; then the stearing-gear stopped work- 
ing, and she was left at the mercy of the current. 

The ship must be sunk before the current could 
carry her out of the course. This was done by ex- 
ploding torpedoes on the outside of the vessel. 
Hobson gave the order, and the first torpedo went 
off, blowing out the collision bulkhead. There was 
no reply from the second or third torpedoes. Hob- 
son crossed the bridge, and shouted, " Fire all tor- 
pedoes I " In the roar of the Spanish batteries his 
voice could hardly be heard. 

Meantime the guns on the shores back of the 
harbor were pouring their shot at the black target in 
the moonlight, and the din was terrific. Word came 
to Hobson that some of the torpedoes could not be 
fired, as their cells had been broken. The order 
was given to fire the others, and the fifth exploded 
promptly, but the remaining ones had been shattered 
by Spanish fire and were useless. The commander 
knew that under these circumstances it would take 
some time for the Merrimac to sink. 

The important point was to keep the ship in the 
center of the harbor ; but the stern-anchor had al- 
ready been cut away. Hobson watched the bow 
move against the shore-line. There was nothing to 
do but wait and see where the tide would swing 
them. 

The crew now gathered on deck. One of them, 
Kelly, had been dazed by an exploding shell. When 



HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 279 

he had picked himself up he started down the engine- 
room hatch, but found the water rising. Then he 
remembered the Merriniads purpose, and tried to 
reach the torpedo of which he had charge. The 
torpedo was useless, and he headed back to the 
deck, climbing up on all fours. It was a strange 
sight to see him stealing up, and Hobson and some 
of the others drew their revolvers, thinking for the 
moment that he must be an enemy who had boarded 
the ship. Fortunately they recognized him almost 
immediately. 

The tide was bearing them to the center of the 
channel when there came a blasting noise and shock. 
A mine had exploded beneath them. " Lads, they're 
helping us ! " cried the commander. But the mine 
did not break the deck, and the ship only settled a 
little lower. For a moment it seemed as if the coal 
might have closed the breach made by the explosion, 
but just as the crew feared that they were to be car- 
ried past the point chosen for sinking the current 
from the opposite shore caught them, and the Mer- 
rimac settled crosswise. It was now only a matter 
of time before she would sink in the harbor. 

The crew could now turn their attention to them- 
selves. Hobson said to them, " We will remain 
here, lads, till the moon sets. When it is dark we 
will go down the after-hatch, to the coal, where her 
stern will be left out of water. We will remain in- 
side all day, and to-night at ebb-tide try to make our 
way to the squadron. If the enemy comes on board. 



28o HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

we will remain quiet until he finds us, and will repel 
him. If he then turns artillery on the place where 
we are, we will swim out to points farther forward." 
He started toward the bow to reconnoiter, but was 
persuaded not to expose himself to the enemy's fire. 
One of the men discovered a break in the bulwarks 
that gave a good view, and Hobson stood there. 
The moon was bright, though now low, and the 
muzzles of the Spanish guns were very near them. 
The crew, however, remained safely hidden behind 
the rail. From all sides came the firing, and the 
Americans, lying full length on the Merrimad s deck, 
felt the continual shock of projectiles striking around 
them. Some of the crew suggested that they should 
take to the small boat, but the commander knew that 
this would be certain destruction, and ordered them 
to remain. Presently a shot struck the boiler, and a 
rush of steam came up the deck near where they lay. 
A canteen was passed from hand to hand. Hobson, 
having no pockets, carried some tourniquets around 
his left arm, and a roll of antiseptic lint in his left 
hand, ready in case any of his crew were wounded. 

Looking through the hole in the bulwarks the 
commander saw that the Merrimac was again mov- 
ing. Sunk deep though she was, the tide was 
carrying her on, and might bear her some distance. 
There seemed to be no way in which they could 
make her sink where she was. Two more mines ex- 
ploded, but missed the ship, and as she floated on it 
became evident that they could not block the channel 



HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 281 

completely. But shortly the Merrimac gave a lurch 
forward and settled to the port side. Now the Span- 
ish Reina Mercedes was near at hand, and the 
Pluton was coming close inboard, but their guns and 
torpedoes did not hasten the sinking of the collier. 
She plunged again and settled in the channel. 

A rush of water came up the gangway, and the 
crew were thrown against the bulwarks, and then 
into the sea. The life-preservers helped to keep 
them afloat, but when they looked for the life-boat 
they found that it had been carried away. A cata- 
maran was the largest piece of floating wreckage, 
and they swam to this. The firing had now stopped. 
The wreckage began to drift away, and the crew 
were left swimming about the catamaran, apparently 
unseen by the enemy. The men were ordered to cling 
to this rude craft, their bodies in the water, their heads 
hidden by the boards, and to keep quiet, as Spanish 
boats were passing close to them. All the crew were 
safe, and Hobson expected that in time some Spanish 
officers would come out to reconnoiter the channel. 
He knew that his men could not swim against the 
tide to the harbor entrance, and even had they been 
able to do so it would have been too dangerous a 
risk, as the banks were now lined with soldiers, and 
the water patrolled by small boats. Their hope lay 
in surrendering before they were fired upon. 

The moon had now nearly set, and the shadow of 
the high banks fell across the water. Boats rowed 
by Spanish sailors pulled close to the catamaran ; 



282 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

but acting under orders from their commander the 
crew of the Merrimac kept well out of sight. The 
sun rose, and a new day came. Soon the crew could 
see the line of distant mountains, and the steep 
slopes leading to Morro Castle. A Spanish torpedo- 
destroyer was heading up the harbor, and a bugle at 
one of the batteries could be heard across the waters. 
Still the Americans clung to the catamaran, although 
their teeth were chattering, and they had to work 
their arms and legs to keep warm. 

Presently one of the men said, " A steam-launch is 
heading for us, sir 1 " The commander looked 
about, and saw a large launch, the curtains aft drawn 
down, coming from around a point of land straight 
toward the catamaran. As it drew near the launch 
swerved to the left. When it was about thirty yards 
away Hobson hailed it. The boat instantly stopped 
and began to back, while some riflemen appeared on 
the deck and took position for firing. No shot fol- 
lowed, however. Hobson called out again, asking 
whether there were any officers on the boat, and add- 
ing that if there were he was ready to surrender him- 
self and his American sailors as prisoners of war. 
The curtain at the stern was lowered, a Spanish 
officer gave an order, and the rifles dropped. The 
American commander swam to the launch, and 
climbed on board, being helped up by the Spanish 
officer, who turned out later to be no other than Ad- 
miral Cervera himself. Hobson surrendered for 
himself and his crew. The launch then drew close 




Spanish Boats Pulled Close to Thi 



HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 283 

to the catamaran, and the sailors clinging to it were 
pulled on board. Although the Spaniards knew that 
the Merrimads men had bottled up their war-ships 
in the harbor, they could not help praising their 
bravery. 

The Spanish launch took them to the Reina 
Mercedes. There the men were given dry clothes 
and food. Although all were scratched and bruised 
only one was wounded, and his wound, though 
painful, was not serious. The American offi- 
cer was invited to join the Spaniards at break- 
fast, and was treated with as much courtesy as 
if he had been an honored guest. Afterward Hob- 
son wrote a note to Admiral Sampson, who was 
in command of the American fleet. The note 
read : '* Sir : I have the honor to report that the 
Merrimac is sunk in the channel. No loss, only 
bruises. We are prisoners of war, being well cared 
for." He asked that this should be sent under a flag 
of truce. Later in the day the Americans were taken 
from the war-ship in a launch, and carried across the 
harbor to Morro Castle. This course brought them 
within a short distance of where the Merrimac had 
sunk, and as Hobson noted the position he con- 
cluded that the plan had only partly succeeded, and 
that the channel was not completely blocked. 

Landing at a small wharf the Americans were 
marched up a steep hill that led to the Morro from 
the rear. The fortress stood out like one of the 
mediaeval castles of Europe, commanding a wide 



284 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

view of sea and shore. The road brought them to 
the bridge that crossed the moat. They marched 
under the portcullis, and entered a vaulted passage. 
The American officer was shown into the guard- 
room, while the crew were led on. A few minutes 
later Admiral Cervera came into the guard-room, 
and held out his hand to Hobson. The admiral said 
that he would have liked to send the American's note 
under a flag of truce to his fleet, but that this had 
been refused by the general in command. He added, 
however, that some word should be sent to inform 
their friends of the safe escape of the Merrimad s 
men. Hobson was then led to a cell in the tower of 
the castle. As the jailer stopped to unlock the door 
Hobson had a view of the sea, and made out the line 
of the American battle-ships moving in two columns. 
He was told to enter the cell, which was a bare and 
ill-looking place, but a few minutes later a Spanish 
captain arrived with apologies, saying that he 
hoped soon to provide the Americans with better 
quarters. 

A little later furniture was brought to the cell, and 
food, cigars, cigarettes, and a bottle of brandy 
provided for the American officer. In fact he and 
his men fared as well as the Spanish officers and 
soldiers themselves. The governor of the fortress 
sent a note to ask what he could do to improve 
Hobson's comfort. Officers of all ranks called to 
shake hands with him, and express their admiration 
for his courage. That first night in the castle, after 



HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 285 

the sentries had made their rounds, Hobson climbed 
up on his cot-bed and looked through a small 
window at the top of the cell. The full moon 
showed a steep slope from the fortress to the water, 
then the wide sweep of the harbor, with a picket- 
boat on duty as it had been the night before, and 
beyond the boat the great Spanish war-ships, and 
still farther off the batteries of Socapa. It was 
hard to believe that only twenty-four hours before 
the center of that quiet moonlit water had been 
ablaze with fire aimed at the small collier Hobson 
had commanded. As he studied the situation he 
decided that the Merrimac probably blocked the 
channel. The enemy would hesitate a long time 
before they would try to take their fleet past the 
sunken vessel, and that delay would give Admiral 
Sampson time to gather his ships. Even if the 
channel were not entirely blocked the Spanish ships 
could only leave the harbor in single line and with 
the most skilful steering. Therefore he concluded 
that his perilous expedition had been successful. 

Next morning a Spanish officer brought him 
news that a flag of truce had been carried to Ad- 
miral Sampson with word of the crew's escape, 
and that the messengers had been given a box 
for Hobson, and bags of clothes, some money, and 
other articles for him and his crew. The men 
now dressed again in the uniform of American 
marines, were treated as prisoners of war, and lived 
almost as comfortably as their captors. 



286 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

While Hobson was having his coffee on the 
morning of June 6th, he heard the whiz and crash 
of an exploding shell, then another, and another, 
and knew that a general bombardment of the fort- 
ress had begun. He hastily examined the cell to 
see what protection it would offer from bricks and 
mortar falling from the walls and roof. At the 
first shot the sentry on guard had bolted the door 
and left. The American pulled the table and wash- 
stand in front of the door, and stood the galvanized 
iron box that had been sent him against the end 
of the table ; this he thought would catch splinters 
and stones which would probably be more dan- 
gerous than actual shells. He lay down under the 
protection of this cover. He knew that the gunners 
of the American fleet were good shots, and figured 
that they could easily demolish all that part of 
the Morro in which his cell was situated. One 
shell after another against the walls of the fortress 
made the whole structure tremble, and it seemed as 
if part of the walls would be blown away. Fortu- 
nately, however, the firing soon turned in another 
direction, and Hobson could come from his shelter, 
and, standing on his cot-bed, look through the 
window at the battle. Several times he took shelter 
again under the table, and several times returned to 
watch the cannonade. The shells screamed through 
the air ; plowed through shrubs and earthworks ; 
knocked bricks and mortar from the Morro, and set 
fire to some of the Spanish ships. But no serious 



, HOW THE MERRIMAC WAS SUNK 287 

damage was done, and the bombardment ended in a 
stand-off between the two sides. 

The American officer had no desire to pass 
through such a cannonade again, and he wrote 
to the Spanish governor to ask that his crew and 
himself be transferred to safer quarters. Next day 
an officer arrived with orders to take all the pris- 
oners to the city of Santiago. So after a four 
days' stay in Morro Castle the little party set out on 
an inland march, guarded by some thirty Spanish 
soldiers. It was not far to Santiago, and there 
the Americans were housed in the regular army 
barracks. These quarters were much better than 
those in the fortress, and the British Consul secured 
many comforts and delicacies for the Americans. 

The men of the Alerrimac stayed in Santiago 
during the siege of that city. On July 5th ar- 
rangements were made to exchange Hobson and 
his men. In the afternoon they were blindfolded 
and guided out of the city. Half a mile or more 
beyond the entrenchments they were told that they 
might remove the handkerchiefs, and found them- 
selves facing their own troops on a distant ridge. 
Soon they were being welcomed by their own men, 
who told them of the recent victories won by 
fleet and army. Not long afterward they reached 
their ships, and were received on board the New 
York by the officers and men who had watched 
them set out on their dangerous mission on that 
moonlight night of June 3d. They gave a royal 



288 HISTORIC ADVENTURES 

welcome to the small crew who had brought the 
collier into the very heart of the Spanish lines and 
sunk her, taking their chances of escape. They 
were the heroes of a desperate adventure, from 
which every man returned unharmed. 



OCT 18 1913 





THE HISTORIC 

SERIES FOR 
YOUNG PEOPLE 





